I've been deeply affected by the writer and philosopher Alain de Boton's campaign for art AS therapy -- for using already existing art to help us feel better. Here's an article describing six works of art and the states they may evoke. His point is that art is not some arcane high culture project that should be difficult, but that it should be used to help us get in touch with and process our emotions.
http://thephilosophersmail.com/perspective/six-works-of-art-that-could-help-you-to-live/
Last spring, he curated an exhibit at a museum in Holland. He actually got a lot of flack saying that art should not be "used" this way, that it is demeaning to the artist, superficial and subjective. Art critics want art to be about something else -- technique, ideology, aesthetics, I guess. But Boton points to how making art is absolutely integral to humanity and that access to it should not just be for the well-educated and informed, but for everyone.
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/art-is-therapy
This really resonnates with me. I don't really think of myself as an artist but have often relied on making art or viewing art during times of emotional turmoil. There is something really powerful about how art can be changed by the viewer's experiences or how the viewer can be changed by the art.
ReplyDeleteAnd this makes me think a lot about art education - especially in elementary school when children's ideas about who they are and what they like are being formed. So many public schools are having art programs (visual arts, theater, music, etc.) cut and other have such limited programs. I think about my own experience in elementary art class where I clearly could not draw "well" and not at all as well as many of my peers. I labeled myself as not an art person early on and really tuned out during museum visits and the like as I grew up. It wasn't until much later in life that I realized I could appreciate and enjoy viewing and making art -- even if I didn't have anything profound and intellectual to say about what I experienced.
I wonder if there's research out there (there probably is) about the emotional development of children who are exposed to really deep experiences of making art and experiencing art made by others versus those who are not...