Years ago I was a true skeptic when I heard about healing art, even though I was an artist myself!
As a Private art teacher I had seen the power of art as it transformed many people’s lives when people opened themselves to learning something new which brought them joy, yet I hadn’t directly experienced art as a tool for healing!
In hindsight it was obvious to me that I was denying the power art had in my own soul… that is before I was moved to, no scratch that, obsessed, compelled, hmmm, how to put it? I couldn’t sleep, so I got up in the middle of the night to put down on paper and express what was inside, before I could go back to bed and get some rest!
When did this happen? Well, early in my second marriage, we thought my husband’s cancer had returned, and while we were going though the process of testing, the emotional roller-coaster was getting to us.
I hadn’t planned on creating these pieces, I was doing “pretty art”, and those oil paintings are up on my Fine Art America site for viewing too, if you wish. I was a little shocked when these pieces came out, pulled out of me on those sleepless nights.
Each morning I would wake up to see my husband standing transfixed, staring into each piece, tears in his eyes… he said that what I had painted exactly portrayed what he was feeling but didn’t know how to say it.
We framed each piece and hung them up on the living room wall, and each visitor who came into the house was immediately drawn to them, and stared into them. They too had tears in their eyes when they finished looking.
Some of the people connected with them because they had gone through cancer, or a family member had. However, some of the people had been through abusive backgrounds, and the pieces spoke to them too.
I was asked to participate in an exhibition in New York City, as part of a group of artists from the Southwest USA, who were bringing healing art, not long after 9-11, and so I flew in with my pieces. I was very honored to be included, and so of course I went!
Many people found a great sense of peace looking into these pieces, some even cried and I remember thinking I was amazed that these hard-boiled New Yorkers were moved by my art! I think the one person who touched me the most was a young boy of around 11 whose mom was sick with cancer; he visited with each one for around 20 minutes, and afterwards thanked me for flying to New York City to show them.
Many people told me I needed to make reproductions and have them available for other people to experience what they had.
I kept this advice at the back of my mind, but didn’t know how I could go about doing it, when I didn’t have access to funds to make the reproductions or to market them. So the idea stayed percolating quietly waiting for it’s time.
When I returned to Tucson, quite soon after the New York experience, I participated in a healing workshop at the Sunstone Cancer Center, where I was one of the teachers helping cancer survivors create their own art pieces, and one of the participants, a counsellor who was also grappling with her own healing journey, looked at me in amazement when she saw that her own creation showed her progress through to her healing.
She had spent years writing in journals, and here was one piece of art she had created which was full of symbolism, and when I gently pointed out the meanings, she cried; her entire journey was shown to her. She said she would have to read through pages and pages of what she had previously written to be able to get a sense of how far she had come, and what she had struggled with.
So truly, healing art really exists! I have experienced it myself, and have seen it in many people’s responses through many workshops I’ve given since then!
I’ve gone on to use art making as a profound way to work through many of my own inner struggles, to deal with stresses of different life traumas and to be able to see and express my own truths in a safe way.
Art Making is safe!
The process of making art, incorporating words, colors, images, textures, mark making etc is a safe way of releasing pent up inner emotions without fearing judgement or reprisals!
The end results aren’t as important as the process! There’s no need to worry about creating “pretty art” or in trying to please someone!
The process itself is very cathartic and the release is wonderful, if not scary at times! This is a safe way of releasing the inner anguish without worrying about hurting anyone!
If anyone is alarmed by what they see, remember, the process of getting it out was the most important component, and not keeping it inside to fester!
The pieces can help point us towards where we need to heal.
The process of creating art as part of a therapeutic journey yields unexpected clues into our own psyche: areas we have suppressed, areas we need to heal and grow in and some of our “true” feeling we don’t want others to see!
The revelations we see may frighten or shock us, but unless we look inwards at our shadows, its very difficult to honestly learn about where we need to grow!
Having inner shadows doesn’t necessarily make us Bad People!
We tend to run from our shadows, fearful that if we acknowledge them it will mean we’re a Bad Person!
Until we can look inwards honestly, we keep it stuffed deep down inside allowing it to fester inside.
Most of the time those shadows consist of emotional and spiritual PAIN we have shut down and blocked out so we don’t have to feel it anymore! With that pain also comes unresolved ANGER.
By creating art to express those inner emotions, we find relief and release.
One piece of art isn’t always enough!
From experience I found out that creating one piece of art won’t deal with all the inner aspects of healing the deep emotional scars, nor will it suffice in expressing what’s currently happening in one’s life!
Rather, it becomes a tool to healing! Creating art to express one’s emotions is a process to be employed over an over!
Do you need to keep or frame the art created during this time?
No!
You can if you wish to reflect on your healing journey, to track what you’re feeling and learning about yourself.
I’ve had deep emotional pleasure in ripping up very strong art pieces! I’ve found emotional release in burning some pieces in a barbecue pit, while praying to the Creator to help me heal.
This is your journey, you get to set your own rules!
More:
Teaching ourselves to like, even to love ourselves
By changing our inner dialogue, we change EVERYTHING!
Red Ocean or Blue Ocean? How do you think?
Making a change… “How do I take that first step?”
An answer to dealing with the Inner Critic!
My top 10 most viewed posts, plus a few bonuses!
Setting “Boundaries with consequences”
A helpful trick to be able to overcome negatively Comparing Ourselves to others…
Do you only accept yourself if you look a certain way?
10 Steps to Owning Our Happiness
Please go to my Archived Posts page to find a list of posts to check out!
I wish you peace and healing!
Tamara
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
The Muse Trilogy 1, 2 & 3 are available on
Fine Art America for viewing, and as fine art prints!
Please visit them at: http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/tamara-kulish.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=465362
I hope they will bring you peace too!
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Blessings!
Tamara
My books: Developing Happiness When You Can’t Find It and How to Heal Your Life on a Deep Heart Level. are available in paperback and Kindle. Audio book coming soon!
Guided Journals help you work on a particular issue by answering questions to help see patterns and to find solutions: Removing Inner Blocks, Anger Journal, Guided Anxiety Journal Joy & Mindfulness Journal My Boundaries Journal My Inner Thoughts Journal My Travel Journal
Thanks for buying my books on Amazon!
#writing #InspirationalWriting #journalwriting #art #creativity #strength #guru #mentor #teacher #HappinessGuru #TamaraHappinessGuru #TamaraKulish #Tamara #HappinessMentor, #love #growth #healing #life, #inspiration, #quotes #happiness #joy #PersonalGrowth #pain #depression #anxiety #SelfEsteem, #LifeSkills #empowerment #encouragement #support #intuition #journal #consciousness #mind #learn #God #universe #angels #spiritual #spirit #awareness #journaling #journal #boundaries #emotionalhealth #mentalhealth #emotions #control #Amazon #Kindle #Twitter #Goodreads #Facebook #blog #author #publishing #encouragement #angermanagement #artjournal #ColoringBooks #sharepositive
Tamara Kulish 
Like exfoliating the insides I suppose. Thoughts and ideas are the most powerful things in this universe. When they are laid down in some kind of expression they are in no way diminished, but fully present in ways that others can interpret them to their own understanding and benefit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your analogy! Yes! That resonates with me! ☺️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The arts, unlike other life pursuits, have ways of reaching us. Healing is one of those factors.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was always so immersed in creating art that the whole process of using art as a tool for healing wasn’t a foreign concept.
However I was very much taken by surprise when the powerful internal need to express my inner feeling woke me up in the middle of the night and wouldn’t let me sleep until I totally expunged those emotions!
The sheer power left me breathless!
LikeLiked by 1 person