Expressive art is a therapeutic approach that allows us to express, explore and experience ourselves from the inside out. This isn’t about being an artist but about using different modalities such as art, movement, dance, poetry, music, improvisation, storytelling, and dreams to encourage and enhance our ability to experience and express feelings. It offers unique opportunities for personal grow and a deeper understanding of ourselves. Expressive art continually weaves itself into the fabric of my own life, creating a tapestry of growth and transformation. It has served as a meaningful ally, safe refuge, and creative force. My practice of expressive arts in therapeutic groups, ritual and ceremony has drawn upon the use of imagery, symbols and metaphors that encourage growth, self-discovery, and the natural unfolding of our inner realms. With the backdrop of song, story, myth, and nature, we create various art forms that can expand our awareness. These experiences empower us to reshape, integrate, and make necessary changes in our lives. By tapping into our creative wellspring, the possibilities for transformation are boundless.

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As we create, we encounter images that are within the artistic expression. These images begin to inform and make us aware of ourselves at a deeper level. We begin to access and encounter our inner recesses.

 

Images offer an opportunity to explore the unknown, giving us an opportunity to integrate a new awareness about our lives and ourselves. Through reflection and dialogue with the images, it begins to touch us with its own unique language revealing and engaging the voice of the unconscious and the inner workings of the psyche. We can respond to the image imaginatively: its parts, colors, textures, characters, open spaces, breath and movement begin to tell a story.

Through various art modalities such as painting, sculpting, movement, myth, poetry, music, ritual and nature we will explore, express, and evoke our inner self through encountering the personal and universal symbols found in our images.