A blogger who calls himself Elder of Ziyon alleges that a traveling exhibition of children’s artwork depicting “A Child’s View of Gaza” made during art therapy sessions, are in fact not drawn by children at all. He lays out his case:
The quality of the artwork does not correspond to the age of the child who drew the picture.
But no age was listed in the displayed photos.
Experts all agree that the artwork looks as though it was created by adults.
But the names of those experts are not included in the post.
These drawings were created during art therapy sessions.
But no art therapist(s) are named as the facilitator.
The artwork is not signed, which is a strange thing for a child to do.
Maybe. But, there maybe a cultural reason for this, or another reason – ie: the art therapist asked that they not sign their artwork for confidentiality purposes. After all, this exhibit is a traveling one.
Does anyone have any information on the art therapist(s) involved in this exhibit? I wrote an email to CJPME, the organization hosting this event, asking for more information.
To Elder of Ziyon: Your claims maybe true. But, you need to post your sources when making such claims to add credibility to what you’re saying. Who are the experts you consulted? Why not consult an art therapist? How did you find out the age of the child who created the artwork?
Check out another art as therapy related project that needs a helping hand. Ayesha, an artist, and her husband Zach have entered into a contest to win $30K to jump start their project – a mobile art making van.
To learn more about their dream to bring art to all, check out the video and if you like what they’re up to, then vote!
Gabrielle Wenonah Wriborg is hoping to get funding for her self-illustration project on Kickstarter.
So you can make an informed decision about her project, Zenobia and the Seven Curses, I asked her to explain how this project came about and how she thinks this tool would be helpful within an art therapy session.
When I first walked into my therapist’s office, I was drowning in a sea of depression so vast I could no longer see the shoreline. That day she became a lighthouse far off in the distance; thus began my swim to a shore that did not yet exist. She soon determined that I had post-traumatic stress disorder due to the numerous trauma inducing events I had experienced during my lifetime. We tried a variety of therapeutic methods, but in my opinion, the most helpful was art therapy, because it uncovered thoughts, feelings, and memories that did not surface through dialoguing and journaling. The use of art as a therapeutic tool made my thoughts, feelings, and memories visible which in turn made them tangible. This tangibility made it possible for me to explore, accept, and eventually cope with these concepts. I fondly remember kneeling on my kitchen floor over long sheets of craft paper and pots of paints documenting my childhood traumas in vibrant colors or sitting in therapy sessions creating
intricate mandalas representing my inner emotions of the moment. I still uncover these artifacts of my healing from time to time and marvel at their intense emotional symbolism and remember how each of these made that metaphorical shoreline slowly come into view.
After many years of therapy, I started working on my Bachelor’s degree. It was during my junior year that I wrote an autobiographical fairy tale for my Women’s Studies class as a final project titled “Gabrielle and the Seven Curses: A Suburban Fairy Tale.” It tells the fantastical story of how I was cursed, the traumatic events I endured due to the curses, and how I found my happily ever after through therapy. Part of the final grade was to present the project to the class. That was the first time I told my
story to a stranger, let alone a room full of them. I was terrified, but afterwards, I felt a sense of relief, accomplishment, and most importantly, a sense of closure. For years, I wanted to do something more with the story, because I knew it was a powerful tale of survival. In 2010, I started turning the fairy tale
into a comic book. I changed the title to “Zenobia and the Seven Curses” and began to rewrite the story. I kept the basic framework, but I changed the names of the innocent and the not so innocent and added more colorful descriptions and created illustrations. This version remains unfinished, but it was one step closer to the present incarnation of the fairy tale.
Last summer I started working on my M.Ed. in Mathematics education. At that time I was also creating a bi-weekly digital comic strip and working on a series of self-portraits using photography as my medium. Then one day, I could not create. I had an artist’s block, and this loss of creativity lasted for months on end. As I suffered creatively, Zenobia came back into my thoughts as she often does when I feel sad. Around the same time, I became enamored with Kickstarter, an internet based crowd-funding platform for creative projects. The two thoughts became enmeshed. I realized instead of illustrating the story, I should allow the reader to illustrate the story, and I could raise the money to publish the “illustrate-it” book through Kickstarter. It originally occurred to me that this would be an excellent tool for artists who were suffering creative blocks like I was, because it is a guided sketchbook. Then I realized, due to the subject matter, it would be extremely beneficial in an art therapy setting with PTSD patients like myself or any variety of survivors.
While I am not an art therapist and my only real experience with art therapy is as a patient, I really think that other patients would benefit from “Zenobia and the Seven Curses” because they would be able to relate to the subject matter. The seven curses that Zenobia suffers and ultimately survives are seven types of traumatic events with which many patients would be able to connect. Furthermore, I feel “Zenobia and the Seven Curses” could help a patient feel some form of companionship through the therapeutic process. Besides occasionally being in a group therapy setting, I often felt alone in my therapy because no matter how hard they tried, my friends and family had no clue what I was really going through. It would have been nice to have had the reassurance of a peer like Zenobia, even if she was fictional. Since much of my trauma was based in my childhood, I think the fact that this story is written in the style of a fairy tale, it speaks to my inner child, Little Gabi, as my therapist often referred
to her. Therefore, I truly feel “Zenobia and the Seven Curses” could really help art therapy patients as they traverse the often murky process of healing.
“Zenobia and the Seven Curses” follows Zenobia DeHaven-Reynard from birth through her early adulthood. Shortly after her birth, Zenobia is bestowed six blessings by the Fair Matriarchs and seven curses by the Not-So-Fair Matriarchs of her family. Zenobia begins her suffering at the tender age of three with the curse of innocence lost due to an unknown early childhood trauma understood to be of a sexual nature. A year later she suffers the curse of a witch which represents separation of parents, specifically due to infidelity on the part of her father. At the age of five she suffers the curse of fire where she narrowly escapes a house fire which destroys everything inside the home. She then enters her early teenage years and suffers the curse of silence which is invoked by being sexually abused by a trusted family friend. Around the same time period, she suffers the curse of poison which symbolizes drug addiction. She also suffers the curse of failing health due to a congenital heart defect which leads to open-heart surgery. Finally she enters early adulthood and suffers the curse of a loveless union where she finds herself living in a physically and emotionally abusive relationship which is steeped in drug and alcohol abuse. She eventually finds her way into therapy, learns how to cope with her curses, and ultimately finds her version of happily ever after.
I launched the “Zenobia and the Seven Curses” project on Kickstarter on June 11. The project is running for 42 days, ending on July 23. Kickstarter is an all or nothing funding platform. My goal is to raise $3500 in order to print 500 copies of the finished book. There are donation levels ranging from $1 to $1000. Every donation is rewarded with items related to the book. If the project is successful, I am donating 50 books to the organization through which I received therapy services, SAFE Homes Rape Crisis Coalition of Spartanburg, SC. They will be using these copies in their therapy program with current and future patients. There are donation levels which allow project backers to donate extra copies to this same organization. I have already started laying out the book. Every odd page is blank yet framed for the purposes of illustration. It looks like the final product will be a paperback book about 50 pages in length with the dimensions of 8 x 10 inches. You can find more information on my website or on the project page.
We have a tendency to think that Art Therapy uses “symbols” rather than “words”, as in “Talk Therapy.” I want to remind us that words are symbols too—really language is a staggeringly complex system of spoken and written metaphors that we can no longer recognize as metaphors.
What an excellent point that Jim Nolan makes about the shortcut description many art therapists use to describe what we do. It makes me want to rethink my elevator speech to be more accurate. Wittgenstein would be overjoyed about this discussion!
Judy Weiser is now an Adjunct Faculty member in Counseling and Art Therapy/Counseling at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Congratulations to all!
This was forwarded to me by the Director of Adjunctive Therapy at CCHSC in Blackwood, NJ. Good luck to all applicants!
JOB ANNOUNCEMENT
Facility: Camden County Health Services Center (CCHSC) has 2 master’s level therapist positions available for immediate hire (1 FT Permanent & 1 FT Temporary). CCHSC is an inpatient behavioral health setting in Blackwood, NJ, serving individuals with severe mental illness. Our facility is an intermediate care facility with a typical length of stay from 1-6 months.
Education/Credentials: A Master’s Degree in a mental health related field. NJ LPC is desirable but not required.
Experience: One year of inpatient mental health experience, preferably working with the SMI population. Experience with dual-diagnosis/addiction a plus. A good working knowledge of evidenced based/best practices treatment approaches for a variety of mental health disorders (CBT, ACT, DBT, etc.).
Additional Requirements: Candidate must live in NJ or have the willingness to move to NJ within 1 year of hire date. CCHSC is a smoke-free facility for both employees and patients.
Hours:
Mon-Fri (8am-4:30pm) OR
Tue-Sat (8:30-5pm)
*Hours still to be determined & will depend upon the position.
Contact:
Interested candidates may submit their CV & cover letter to:
In my previous posts I discussed the changing nature of work in the US. The model that we’re all used to, which was developed in the beginning of the 20th C, is not standing the test of time. The advice our parents and teachers gave us isn’t holding up. It just doesn’t make sense to drown in student loan debt hoping that an inflated government or unionized salary will be waiting on the other side. Wisconsin is just one example of the changes to come.
Got it, Liz. This post is about being hopeful about art therapy’s future – Tell me more about that.
There’s lots to be hopeful for!
For starters, even though we still need more and better outcome research, art therapy has promise to demonstrate what art therapists (and many clients) already know – that art therapy has enormous healing potential and is intrinsically rewarding. With technological improvements allowing us to study the brain in detail, the more I believe art therapy will be validated.
Second, art therapy can be a very rewarding career choice. Helping people is very fulfilling and helping people heal through art is doubly so. At least for me. Art making and helping others comes so naturally, that it feels good to do both simultaneously.
The stigma of therapy is slowly being chipped away in our culture and people are realizing they can benefit from counseling. This is just anecdotal, but I feel that people today are much more interested in self-awareness and self-understanding than in the past. Many people now enter therapy simply so they can become their best selves. If this is indeed a trend, there will be a greater demand for therapists in a private practice setting.
I’m also hoping that with the crumbling Blue Model will come a new way of conceptualizing licensing. My old professor Ron Hayes used to talk about his efforts to get art therapy licensed under the LPC in Pennsylvania. He would say, “licenses are to protect the clients! To ensure that there is a certain standard of education and practice in our field”. While it’s true that I wouldn’t want just anyone messing with my psyche, just like I wouldn’t want just anyone to be my doctor, licensing has gotten completely out of control. At this point, it serves to protect the interests of those who hold the licenses, the educators within the field and credentialing bodies, not the clients. My hope for art therapy’s future is that reciprocity between states will be a simple process so that we can be free to move and work where we want with our hard earned degrees. I also hope that the death of the Blue Model will bring affordable tuition that is inline with the true salary prospects of those practicing in the field.
Lastly, the number of people who contact me to let me know they share my concerns also keeps me hopeful for the future of art therapy. I hope these worries can be transformed into real action so that art therapy will one day once again be considered a “Hot Job”.
That said, I have something to share with you. My feelings about it have been so varied and overwhelming that it’s difficult for me to say – so much so, that I’ve been putting off writing this post. I’m leaving art therapy for the foreseeable future and have accepted a position as the Website Manager at a private all girls school.
I cannot tell you what a tremendous opportunity this is for me, and how grateful I am to have successfully transitioned careers during one of the toughest economies in the past 100 years. But, it’s with a heavy heart that I’m leaving the field because I truly love art therapy and know that with a lot of hard work, art therapy can successfully survive in a post-Blue Model world. But, I cannot wait for these changes to happen and I’ve done my best to feel out how “ready” the field is…and I think we have a long way to go.
For those of you who wonder if you too can make such a transition, I want to let you know it’s absolutely possible. I learned how to design websites by taking online courses starting 2 years ago, built my business and raised twin babies all at the same time. If I could do it (with a little help from friends and family), surely you can to.
I plan to continue blogging, although the topics will become more diverse. I plan to focus a more on work/life balance issues, as well as education. I’ll also do my best to keep up on art therapy related topics, and would be happy to accept guest posts from art therapists who’d like to write a little something for the blog.
As always, I’m so very grateful for your support and I hope you’ll stick with me throughout this transition.
I mentioned the blue model in one of my previous posts, and how we should all be trying to steer clear from these types of jobs because the nature of work is changing. But, I didn’t explain what the blue model is and why I believe we’re not just in a recession – we’re witnessing massive changes to the American (and global) workforce – the type of upheaval that only our grandparents and great-grandparents witnessed.
First, I want to explain what the blue model is and second, I hope to demonstrate why I believe art therapy is caught within its framework. To be clear, I’m not saying that art therapy is a dead-end career that won’t be supported in a post-blue model economy. Rather, I believe art therapy could be a viable career option in 10 or 20 years from now if we recognize the changes in our economy now and if we analyze how the current model of licensing, civil service and academia is changing. Just as no one could have predicted the internet at the beginning of the industrial revolution, I believe we cannot predict exactly how we’ll come out the other side. But, burying our heads in the sand will cause more disruption and hardship on art therapists and aspiring art therapists than opening our eyes to the reality of what’s happening.
And, I’m not claiming to be an economist or a historian as I write about this issue. I’m merely a person in her early 30s who is reflecting on her current career situation and why the promises fed to her all her life (work hard, get educated and you’ll do fine) are just not panning out…at least not in the way that my family, teachers and mentors always described.
What is the blue model?
The blue model is the post-great depression work structure in the US that most North Americans picture in our minds eye when we conjure up what a stable economy consists of.
My main go-to post-blue model thinker, Walter Russell Mead, explains:
Many people, much smarter than me, say so. But judge for yourself – is it a guarantee that young people will achieve more financial stability than their parents? No. Not at all! Blue collar and government jobs just aren’t around like they used to be. Even if you snag one, many don’t have job security. And if you do because you’re unionized, that won’t be lasting for very much longer. The cost of paying the benefits of unionized workers is getting so burdensome that pretty much no matter where you live in the US, you’ve heard about layoffs and pension cut backs to these types of workers.
But, what if you’re educated? Then you’ll do better than your parents, right? Not necessarily. It depends on the sector you work in and what you’re educated in. Not surprisingly, according to this study of median incomes posted by the Chronicle (hat tip), science and technology related jobs fare the best, while psychology and education jobs fare the worst.
So, are you telling me that I could be paying 40-80K for a BA and then another 40-80K for an MA, only to discover that I could be earning as little as $29K-$55K a year? Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying. In many areas of the country that’s barely enough to rent an apartment and have a car, never mind affording to buy a home. Is that doing better than your parents? In most cases, no.
Now, let’s talk a little more about job security. Do you know anyone under the age of 50 who’s only held one job their whole lives? How about someone who’s been at the same company for over 10 years? I know I don’t. In fact, in many areas it’s looked down upon to stay with the same company for too long. It means you’re not growing and risk being “typecast” in your career.
Don’t even get me started on the cost of education, early retirement and other promises of the Blue Model.
But as Walter Russel Mead points out, we’re actually past the collapse of blue industry, as evidenced by the changes that have already taken place and described above. It’s the government (and quasi-government) jobs that are currently being shaken up. At this point, I believe art therapy is a quasi-government job that is at 5-alarm risk of going down with the ship.
Why do I consider art therapy at risk?
Many art therapy jobs rely on government funding. If government jobs are going down, so are the jobs that rely on government money.
Art therapy usually adjunct. If government funding is drastically reduced, anything seen as non-essential will be removed from the services offered by (mental health) institutions.
Art therapists are resistant to integrating new technology into their practice.
Art therapy schools are not listening to students or clients to define their curriculum. For example, students are not taught how to integrate digital art making into their practices or how to ethically navigate online therapy and social media as therapists. We all know that public school education for our kids is inefficient and has difficulty keeping up with the times. But, there is no excuse for programs that charge upward of 60K to learn what I consider the old way of practicing art therapy. To stay modern, art therapists must know how to meet their clients where they’re at – meaning that if clients are better able to connect and reach their therapeutic goals while using a tablet or a computer, then art therapists should feel comfortable in that space. Just as they should feel comfortable introducing clay into a session when it’s warranted, even if the art therapist isn’t an expert on sculpture making.
Tuition to become an art therapist is outrageous in comparison to median earning potential. We will lose great minds and talent in the field simply due to this fact.
Licensing is complicated and oftentimes does not serve the purpose of protecting the client. Instead, it’s used to shut out otherwise qualified professionals and prevent (art) therapists from being mobile. I believe this has a lot to do with the crumbling blue model system – people are trying to stake claim to space on board the Titanic. Again, frustration with these issues will cause people to switch careers to professions that care if you’re competent and qualified, not whether or not you can jump through hoops.
Is there reason to be hopeful?
I believe there are many reasons to be hopeful, and I plan to outline them in my next post. But, allow me to leave you with this inspiring video – there is much to look forward to!
Posted with the permission of the question asker, with some details changed to conceal the person’s identity:
Hi Liz,
I just stumbled upon your blog via my crazy search for details about art therapy. I realize you must be getting a lot of similar questions about grad school for art therapy but hopefully this one won’t add too much of a burden. I just completed my last undergrad exam for my BA in Montreal and have an Masters in Art Therapy offer lined up at a school in the US. While it’s so exciting to actually be a step closer to working with children with special needs, the financial burden as you’ve pointed out is steep. While the school in the US costs 40000/term for me as an international student, a University in the UK costs approx 18000/term (for MSc in Art Psychotherapy). Half the price?!
It’s frustrating enough that the US school is super fast and wants me to respond to the offer by the end of April, the UK school on the other hand has just been working on a different time frame and I’m having my interview tomorrow. Aside from the horrible timing, there’s also the greater problems of financing a masters and like you’ve mentioned to many others the long term consequences from that.
So I guess much of my dilemma stems from the fact that the US school, as an art school, obviously has a lot more resources available. While I cannot guarantee that the education may be worth double the cost, I am fairly confident that the US school is able to provide a certain quality of education. On the other hand, the UK school appears to have less emphasis on art. While I know that the professional credentials in the two countries differ, I was wondering if you knew any information about how art therapy is used in the States vs. Europe. From your experience, have you interacted with any art therapists who work in North America that obtained their degree elsewhere in the world?
Also, from a financial perspective, would it be worth paying double the price to study at well-resourced arts school as compared to a much lesser known university college who may have less updated information for the field of art therapy?
I realize I might have gone too far in depth into the situation and I definitely don’t expect all answers to be answered. But any insight into this situation would be of great help. Essentially I’m trying to leave my options open to the extent that after my masters I’m not limited to working in a certain area in the world but also not limiting myself because of student loans/ financial burdens.
Thanks!
Hi,
Your question is an interesting one! I’m not sure how much I can help with the specifics, but I have a few questions for you that may help you along with your decision.
Where do you want to live after you’re done with Grad School? If it’s anywhere in the US, I can almost guarantee that you will not get a state license if you study outside the US. Getting a state license is not only essential in order for you to accept medical insurance (which is a complicated issue, even if you are licensed), it also opens you up to 10x more jobs than what you would be qualified for sans license. If you want to live in Canada, check-in with the art therapists in the province you want to settle down in. If I’m not mistaken some provinces have regulated art therapy as a profession and others have not. Again, you need to be sure you qualify for any licenses that art therapists in that province usually fall under.
Are you aware of the earning potential of an art therapist in the state or province you want to live in? Can you survive on this salary taking into consideration living expenses and paying off your student loan debt? (Please see my post on being a new mom and an art therapist)
Have you looked into Concordia University’s art therapy program? From what I hear it’s a high quality education and Concordia has a strong fine arts department. (They also have drama therapy too…) Also, if you’re already living in Quebec, you’d qualify for in-province tuition, which is so much less than anywhere else in Canada (despite what the protesters are saying!) It maybe worth putting off your MA to pursue this option, simply for the cost savings and the fact that Concordia offers a great education too.
I think the main difference between the practice of art therapy in North America vs. Europe is the theories that are used as a foundation for the practice of art therapy. There are some theories/modes of practice that are only popular/taught in Europe and not the US/Canada and vice versa. So, the coursework will be different and so will the length of study. I believe you can get an MA in 1 year and a PhD in 2 in Europe. I also hear that art therapy is very well respected in the UK, whereas you can be doing ok as a North American art therapist or struggling, depending on the region you live in.
Lastly, I don’t think an art school would necessarily be a better place to teach/learn art therapy. I went to Drexel – fine arts was not their strong suit – and I got an excellent education that was very clinically oriented. I preferred that approach more simply because it was more academically rigorous than other schools that seemed more art focused. But, that was my personal preference and doesn’t necessarily mean that one is better than the other…as long as you can hold your own in a clinical meeting once your degree is completed.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed from reading my other posts, I’m not a fan of student loan debt and I advise you not to go into debt to become an art therapist. The reality is that we’re paid so little that it’s very hard to makes ends meet without a student loan payment – never mind with $500-$1000 of student loans to pay off every month for the next 30 years. I’ve also been asking people interested in pursuing art therapy to seriously consider whether there’s another career path that would be just as fulfilling, but allows you to earn more money and have more job prospects after graduating, e.g., occupational therapy. I would hate for you to follow the art therapy dream only to meet the harsh reality that I and so many art therapists have recently.
I hope this helps! Remember – art therapy will always be around. You don’t need to rush into anything simply because you received an acceptance letter.
