Art Therapize Yourself

What is Art Therapy? How can you use aspects of it in your next art encounter? We explore these questions at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art with art therapist Lauren Daugherty. #arttherapy #art #museums

Subscribe for new episodes of The Art Assignment every other Thursday, and follow us elsewhere for the full Art Assignment experience:

[theartassignment]

Several of you have noticed that there is a typo in this video at 3:48. The untitled work by El Anatsui that is our primary focus was created in the year 2009. It was a great year, 2009--for me at least--and a fine year for this artwork to have been made. What will the world be like in 20009? We do not know. But we know that this artwork will not have been newly created in that year. Thanks for your understanding.

[kleerude]

I went on an art museum tour once, not with an art therapist, but with an educator who was trained to talk about art with children. There was this really wonderful moment when we were looking at a Wayne Thiebaud painting of a field. The guide asked us to close our eyes and imagine what the painting would sound like if we were inside it, then on the count of three, asked everyone to make the sound they thought they would hear. The gallery was filled with this unearthly buzzing, humming noise as we all made our sounds at the same time. It was magical.

Ever since then, I try to find new ways to look at art when I’m in a museum instead of just learning about a piece’s history. This gave me a lot of ideas!

[Clara-jdkj]

That's why I love art. It's a way of understanding myself through how others have expressed themselves. It reminds me of how connected we all are when I can find pieces of myself in a 500 year old painting.

[quartjarz]

I recently went to the Chicago Art Institute alone, and accidentally did some art therapy on myself lol. seeing a giant canvas painted completely black, focusing on the brush strokes, and seeing that as a metaphor for the small experiences that make up my life really made me feel more grounded than I have in months.

[susannamartin]

Perfect timing! Just finished reading Alain de Botton's fascinating "Art as Therapy".

[bethaniepetitpas]

That first El Anatsui looked like someone trying to turn a Klimt painting into a statue.

[sikamaru]

Fish break the surface
And a reflection shatters
Momentarily.
That fish coffin reminded me of this haiku which I know from shogun 2.

[ikinglopez]

This is heartwarming. I'm now less intimidated to engage with art with my whole body-sense and not just my mind.

[BeFree]

I love seeing people explore different relationships with art. Before I began studying Art History, I felt that the arts community was a bit elitist/pretentious in a way that made it inaccessible. Once I began delving into it, I realized art is made for everyone. It works in ways that even those who don't know anything about Klimt, can pick up on the enthusiastic consent and passion in "The Kiss". Art speaks without words, that's why kids are the best artists because they care about nothing when going in on a pack of crayons. It is difficult not to feel something when looking at a painting.

[lalas]

On the "what piece of art reminds you of home?" thing, I'm going to have to go with The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. When I was about 10-11 my family made a pit-stop in St. Petersburg, Florida while we were travelling to Disney World so that I could go to the Salvador Dali museum. My Mom bought a big, sturdy shoulder-bag from the gift shop there that had The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory on the side of it. To this day it's the bag she uses to carry things when we go to a theater or a museum or something, which are spaces where I tend to feel the most safe. I'll never be able to not associate that painting with the feeling of home.

[sufferingsappho]

"Jessica, only child, Illinois, Chicago"

[mbg]

Thank you for this video! I didn't know I needed it. In art school, I got into the habit of treating viewing art in museums as a test of my knowledge or as an opportunity to get inspiration for my own work. Neither of which are bad things, but it's led to me feeling ashamed if I don't know as much as I thought I did about an artist or a piece. This feeling is heightened when I'm with other people and feel pressure to make intelligent comments. So my mindset has sort of sucked a lot of the fun out of my art viewing experiences. This video gave me new ideas for how to truly interact with art objects themselves, and I'm so excited for my next museum visit.

[AaronAlthaus]

Thank you! I'm using this idea to plan a date(s) with my wife! Maybe we will find a new avenue to explore what our concepts of safety, home, and self are. (neither one of our families growing up wer prone to self reflection or sharing). I'm hoping this may spark a greater love of art in us both! We like going to see museums but often leave feeling like we didn't find what we were looking for. This gives us a focus and a way to digest what art we are witness to. I'm super excited to get your book and turn that into a date night too!

[chargercaddy]

I maintain and restores outdoor sculptures for private collectors and for some city's . About 2 years ago I began hanging art as well, I've learned so much from this channel and it has helped me tremendously . A big hello and thank you from Palm Springs California

[redpotter]

I’ve been doing this new thing in art museums where I find the piece in every room that evokes the strongest emotion and then I approach it slowly, looking at it from all distances, or rush to it and then back away. Last time I did this it was with a 12th century wooden head of Jesus that had gotten pretty beat up and at a glance looks like a skull or shrunken head. It really really freaked me out, so that’s why I tried to approach it a foot at a time and figure out why it made me feel that strongly. The cool thing about that piece (and that museum in general) is that there was no information available about the piece. I had to really work to find the information but I did that after I was done initially experiencing.

[artgeedart]

I just want to say you(lady in video) are an amazing professional speaker. It feels good to listen to you narrating or speaking in the video.

[hLofA]

When I hear art therapist, I immediately think about Parasite

"It's a self portrait"

[lupusrex]

I'm really insterested and fascinated by the ability of humans to submerge themselves in a world of our imagnation and expression by having discussions and analizing works of art.It's so amazing that it can offer help and discovery(sometimes self-discovery).In conclusion, art is the best!✨💖🤩

[floriandonier]

Thank you so much! My girlfriend and i we are artherapists in Germany. It's great to see that arttherapi had made its way in to the museum in USA. Unfortunately in Germany it's not that common.

[Le_Mer]

This channel alway puts out top-notch content. Haven't even watched the video yet and I know it's going to be good.