Whenever art and therapy are mentioned within the same sentence, connections to ambiguous inkblots and your mother tend to come to mind. However, aside from psychoanalyzing blobs of spilled ink over white paper, why not bring out your inner Picasso to help cure the woes of your grief?
In recent years, therapy research has shifted gears toward more creative modes of expression. Certified therapists are now looking into helping their patients through mediums like painting, drawing, music or even performance art. Due to its adaptability as a medium, art has become a great method for expressing feelings that can’t be put into words.
The flexibility of art prompted Laurie Zagon to create her dream organization called Art for Healing, a non-profit community geared toward using art to relieve distress. True to its name, this Laguna Niguel-based group implements art studio sessions for teens and adults suffering from abuse, illness or grief. Visitors can express their emotions by sitting in group sessions where soothing background music inspires the artistic mind and relieves the soul.
In the same context as Freud’s ‘free thinking’ technique, participants use their paint palate to associate particular feeling words, such as ‘happiness’ or ‘sorrow,’ onto small canvases. ‘By expressing themselves creatively, participants can document their experience in a profound way, thus creating a healing environment for themselves,’ Zagon said. Zagon and her crew of humanitarian volunteers direct their purposes toward producing a healthier lifestyle through literally making the world more beautiful.
On Nov. 2, true beauty was put to the test by comparing how big one’s heart was to one’s wallet. Arts of Healing hosted its fifth annual Girls Night Out event featuring a live and silent auction that donated all proceeds to children’s agencies all over Orange County. Located at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, bidders and non-bidders paid $100 for the evening’s tickets. They strolled through the gallery of prizes, including expensive spa kits and a personal painting from Zagon herself.
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