healing through art

"Art Therapy is a mental health profession in which clients, facilitated by the Art Therapist, use art media, the creative process, and the resulting artwork to explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior and addictions, develop social skills, improve reality orientation, reduce anxiety, and increase self-esteem."

The Expressive Arts Therapy Program at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin helps patients and their families express their emotions through art. The program goes beyond arts and crafts and into the imagination for creative stimulation, communication and coping. 

To learn more about art therapy, visit http://www.arttherapy.org/

"When words fail us, art speaks."

collaboration with a 4-year-old

This is a bit of an old story that circulated on the internet about 2 years ago, but I couldn't resist talking about it in my blog.

Mica Angela Hendricks is an amazing artist, and on her blog busy mockingbird she tells the story of how she ended up collaborating with her daughter on a lot of the artwork she did:

“I was going to draw a body on this lady’s face,” I said.  “Well, I will do it,” she said very focused, and grabbed the pen."

"Not surprisingly, I LOVED what she drew.  I had drawn a woman’s face, and she had turned her into a dinosaur-woman.  It was beautiful, it was carefree, and for as much as I don’t like to share, I LOVED what she had created.  Flipping through my sketchbook, I found another doodle of a face I had not yet finished.  She drew a body on it, too, and I was enthralled.  It was such a beautiful combination of my style and hers.  And she LOVED being a part of it."

Below are a few examples of the art she has done with her daughter-they're incredibly beautiful and child-like, I can't get enough of these pictures!

Mica Angela Hendricks

Mica Angela Hendricks

Mica Angela Hendricks