Jennifer Lee (Montreal, QC)
Not only has this practice emerged to shape and engage my challenging emotions using embodied and generative practices, but it has helped me to gain new perspectives and develop a new relationship with art-making: viewing the art process as a container and intermediate space of creation, contemplation, intention, and reflection.
Read MoreMaria Riccardi & Gabrielle Gingras (Montreal, QC)
As art therapists, we make mistakes and enter the relationship with our own history, bias, and sensitivity. Consequently, it is important that we demystify and normalize potential ruptures and take ownership of our mistakes in order to repair them with our clients.
Read MorePatricia MacAulay (New Glasgow, PEI)
Repeatedly, I saw that a change in perspective on an adult’s part altered the way that they interacted with a child, thus increasing the child’s sense of safety. I also saw changes in the adult as they developed greater confidence in their ability to relate to children and deeper compassion for themselves and others.
Read MoreNature’s Way
Taylor Bourassa (Ottawa, ON)
The true nature of emotions is that they’re playful little communicators. So naturally, I think of the faeries. Those fair folk who live in the trees and underground, in mounds and hills, under the ocean and in the reeds.
Read MoreEmmanuelle Cesari & Liliane El Dib (Paris, France)
On peut voir sans être vu, mais on ne peut toucher sans être touché, ce sens est fondamentalement réciproque, il tisse des liens. Il a deux fonctions complémentaires : il nous permet de définir les limites de notre corps, de nous sentir nous-mêmes, pour ensuite nous projeter, entrer en communication et agir sur le monde.
Read MoreAnna Nike Leskowsky (Toronto, ON)
A desire to connect with other people through painting portraits was always a part of my creative work. I painted images of my daughter to express love for her; I drew impressions of my brothers to communicate the unconditional bond between us; I included my other family members in this process because I missed or admired them and naturally, I turned to painting self-portraits to explore my own identity.
Read MoreStefanie Munro (Regina, SK)
We learn, grow, stumble, and repeat to find deeper meanings in ourselves and in the world around us. There are no right or wrong answers; there are only layers, interpretations, and choices. Art bores into the solidified layers of our defenses to show us who we are and who we can become.
Read MoreSharing stories of motion: Embracing the capacity creativity gives for us to speak, choose, and act.
Transformational change: Reflecting on the power of art-making as a medium for resilience and growth.
Amanda Gee (Lower Sackville, NS)
I forgot about all of the spiders in Nova Scotia and have found myself fascinated by them since moving home. They are always ‘creating’ and ‘recreating’ building functional structures that are full of beauty when caught in the sunlight or glistening with dew. As an artist and an art therapist I am also always creating and recreating, always growing, and always trying to create and recreate safe creative spaces in which my clients can do the same.
Read MoreSarah Gysin (Ottawa, ON)
This issue, we invited art therapists to share stories of how they use artmaking as a tool for action or have witnessed the impact art-making can have in their clients and community as a way of stirring, drawing out and forward, or instilling motion—whether on a personal level or a systemic one.
Read MoreArt Therapy Conversations
Rebecca Montgomery (Vancouver, BC)
LIFE as Medicine is a Circle of First Nations, Metis and Inuit Creative and Expressive Arts Therapists whose work promotes collaborative relational healing with Indigenous Peoples and communities. This month, Rebecca had the pleasure of connecting with the three members of its leadership team, Dr. Fyre Jean Graveline, Jen Vivian, and Jean Tait.
Read MoreFeaturing artwork by Dillon Lewchuk (Victoria, BC), Sherry Lynn (Grimsby, ON), and Sarvatmika Rajeev (Chennai, India).
Read MoreShae Anthony (Vancouver, BC)
In offering art therapy, therapists support an individual’s ability to choose and access art materials, to sit in a calm space, and to take rest. Despite facing circumstances that people can’t change, when art making, an individual is free to express themselves on their own terms.
Read MoreAnna Nike Leskowsky (Toronto, ON)
Every time I passed by the photograph displayed on the wall of my dining room, I thought to myself, “I must draw this image.” Many years ago, my grandfather, an architect and an artist, captured the tranquility of his daughter’s rehearsal by taking a picture. I suspect that then he wanted to do exactly the same thing I was now planning to do: make a drawing of the young dancer.
Read MorePascale Laberge-Milot (Sherbrooke, QC)
A travers un processus créatif favorisant l’interconnexion des deux hémisphères du cerveau, tout en revitalisant les sensations, le corps et les émotions, cette démarche m’a permis d’expérimenter en quoi cela pouvait apporter plus de vitalité et d’entièreté à l’existence.
Read MoreEmmanuelle Cesari & Aline El Ramy (France, Lebanon)
D’où l’importance de l’art-thérapie qui vient remplacer l’expérience traumatisante de la personne par une autre expérience de création, de plaisir et de joie de vivre. A long terme, l’art-thérapie peut modifier le fonctionnement cérébral et donc permet de court-circuiter la transmission transgénérationnelle de traumatismes et de problèmes psychologiques.
Read MoreElisabeth Ioannides & Maria Konti (Athens, Greece)
Response art functions as the intermediate space where the art psychotherapist’s personal experience meets something else. The participants were invited in this workshop to answer/explore/wonder particularly on this “something else”: through a case study, their own experience, and the experience gained in the workshop, they were invited to ponder on how they connect response art to their practice as art psychotherapists.
Read MoreChristy Herdman (Calgary, AB)
The overarching goal is to be a catalyst for change and to use art as a medium to enhance the emotional intelligence of the next generation; encouraging one to feel the feels, knowing all feelings are valid. CRATE Workshop for Kids series provide children the tools to build their vocabulary of different emotions to enhance their emotional competence.
Read MoreNature’s Way
Taylor Bourassa (Ottawa, ON)
Nature’s Way is a regular column in Envisage that explores eco-art therapy and invites practices of enhancing our relationship with the earth. In this issue, Envisage writer Taylor Bourassa shares the importance of recognising, reflecting, and expressing gratitude for the important places in our lives.
Read MoreContinuing onward: Witnessing the cycle of the seasons pass with gratitude, acceptance, and letting go.
Nourishing what remains: Rebuilding our community and connection with others in the wake of adversity.
