The
issues of creativity go deep. Personal, social and cultural contexts
influence the choice to write, dance, paint, draw, sculpt, make
music, perform. I developed one wing of my Red Shoes Consulting
Work into Expressive Arts Therapy.
What is Expressive Arts Therapy?
It is the use of the arts to explore psychological, physical and
spiritual issues. As the Mission Statement of the International
Expressive Arts Therapy Association – IEATA – says:
Expressive Arts Therapy is “The Professional use of
integrative, multi-modal arts processes for personal and community
transformation. Expressive Arts are those activities in which
creative expression fosters psychological, physical and spiritual
wellness. We strive to establish recognition and growth of the
field of expressive arts. We provide a global forum for professional
dialogue and promote guiding principles for professional practice
among expressive artists, educators, consultants and therapists.”
I
am a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist.
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• Through my individual and group
work, I aim to enable people to work toward their own free creative
expression and their own selves.
• I work to open creative channels and to deepen understanding
of creativity in each individual’s life.
• Some of the questions we explore are:
What do I want to say?
How do I want to say it?
Who do I want to say it to?
What do I want to receive back?
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| Art
is a journey into the unknown through palpable forms. Color, sound,
shape, words, movements. Through the various media, I venture
into past, present and future wishes and dreams. Through images,
I work in tandem with a client to activate these images and turn
them into productive and satisfying ways of life.
One-to One work and Small Groups facilitate the process.
Work may continue for a specific designated time (three months,
one year) or continue as the quest evolves.
I use verbal therapy as well as work in writing, speaking, performance,
meditation.
I take the fundamental principle of healing, making wholes, and
apply it to the individual and the work of art being explored.
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Samples of workshops: In
Your Own Voice: Writing and Creativity Development
Step
Into the Water: Deepening Creativity Through Writing
and Other Artistic Media
Listen!
The Trees Are Talking: Writing and Natural World
Let
the Wild Women Write: Women and Creative Expression
To
the Lighthouse – Writing Retreats to Explore Creative
Consciousness
Write
Naturally, Write Right: Developing Skills for Writing
On the Job and In School |
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Through
this process, not only the self is discovered, but the skills
in the art itself get developed.
My work is holistic; clients grow and so do I.
Expressive Arts Therapy as I practice it is Red Shoes and Timberline
Boots.
“Beautiful and bright it should be on
the surface, feathery and evanescent, one colour melting into
another like the colours on a butterfly’s wing; but beneath
the fabric must be clamped together with bolts of iron.”
-Virginia Woolf
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