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Expressive Arts Therapy
"Expressive Arts Therapy has emerged over the last few decades as an innovative approach towards health in our contemporary society. Expressive arts therapy uses a range of creative media, such as dance, visual art, music, performance and creative writing towards self-exploration and personal growth. Being able to engage in intermodality by weaving through many forms of art expressions is a vital component to its application.
Expressive arts therapy offers an exceptional healing possibility for those who engage in it because it demands that the participation be fueled by personal material. This personal material, which comes from all levels of experience, i.e., physical, emotional, mental, sensory, and spiritual, can bring about authentic expression that rings from one's own imagination and life stories."
– Adriana Marchione - www.creativesourcesf.com
“As we tap into the deep sources of bodily wisdom through creative art expression, we dance the renewal, recreation and healing of ourselves and our world .” - Anna Halprin
The Life/Art Process
There is an essential connection between art and life, which can facilitate healing and change. We are interested in a new aesthetic that reflects the here and now reality of people's authentic life experiences, rather than a beauty based on form or technique. For us it is our real life experiences that feed our art, and our art that informs the real issuse in our lives. We call this the Life/Art Process (Tamalpa Institute). Lisa Russo Pettigrew is trained in this process, a method developed at the Tamalpa Institute by Anna and Daria Halprin. The Life/Art Process is a movement-based approach that utilizes dance, visual art, performance/improvisation and creative writing. Lisa uses Expressive Arts Therapy and the Life/Art Process in her classes, workshops and individual sessions.
“Art that arises out of the inner landscape, and is connected to our lived experience, illuminates the darkness and heals the soul.” - Daria Halprin
Recommended Reading List
Art as Medicine by Shaun McNiff
Childsplay by Jeff Kelley
Dance and Other Expressive Art Therapies: When Words are Not Enough by Fran Levy (Editor)
Dance as a Healing Art by Anna Halprin
Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy by Stephen and Ellen Levine
Movement/Dance Therapy As A Healing Art by Fran Levy
Moving Towards Life: Five Decades of Transformative Dance by Anna Halprin
The Courage To Create by Rollo May
The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy by Daria Halprin
The Psychology Of Art by Rudolf Arnheim
The Unfolding Self by Molly Brown