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 Neela Sakaria: Please tell us about the title of your book. What does "art@tudes" mean?
Sharon Heath: An art@tude is about mastering attitudes using art processes to accept oneself and learn the difference between responding and reacting to life's situations.
Art-@tude- n. pl. art@tudes¤ 1. A personal awareness of approaches and attitudes towards life through art experiences 2. The personal ability to control and adjust an attitude with regards to a situation, event or person 3. An internal emotions thermostat which regulates reactions and responses in life 4. A visual language of profound personal insights which integrates the ego and heart 5. Creative thinking skills for the transformation of life challenges into workable solutions 6. The ability to recognize and release limiting fears to gain a new perspective 7. To see the big picture through creatively stepping out of the opinionated box 8. Being the artisan of one's soul.
Neela: Tell us about your career as an art therapist. What is art therapy and how did you get involved in it?
SH: I have been an art therapist since 1990 and have been fortunate to utilize my skills in an array of settings to include inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care, drug rehab, public school systems, university courses, workshops, conferences, consultation services, individual and group therapy in a private practice setting. Art therapy is a graduate level human service profession which combines the traditional theories of counseling with visual art. An art therapist acts as a guide for the client in both art making and verbal processing. Art therapy strives to promote new levels of perceptual organization that involves shifts in energy patterns. Art therapy is nationally recognized through the American Art Therapy Association and regulated by the Art Therapy Credentialing Board.
There are two schools of thought in art therapy, art as process and art as product. In art as process the primary emphasis is not on art but rather the insights gained through the client's verbal associations and interpretation of their art work. The images produced are seen as a communication tool between therapist and client which constitutes a symbolic form of speech. The art is used as an enhancement to traditional verbal therapy.
In art as product, the process of art making is viewed as therapeutic. Internal conflicts can be experienced and re-experienced through art making and resolution and integration of internal conflicts are achieved by the art making and finished product.
In non-directive art therapy, the art therapist offers a wide selection of material and allows the client to chose the theme. In directive art therapy, a specific media and theme is chosen by the art therapist. Either way, clients engage in direct interaction with art materials and discover alternative choices are possible, decisions have direct results, mistakes can be a source for learning and fresh attempts can be developed to resolve problems. Non-verbal means for communication are also be developed as clients express conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. The art therapist helps the client to consider use of space, size, symbols, representation of self and with others, color intensity, lack of color, organization of the art, abstract vs. representational themes, appropriateness of subject matter, mood and choice of art medium when reviewing the art. The client learns to translate their own visual dialogue.
I initially was a public school art teacher and learned about the field through an advertisement for art therapy coursework through School Arts magazine. I attended an art therapy conference sponsored by the Art Therapy Association of Oklahoma and knew then that art therapy was the field I had been looking for. I enrolled in a graduate program and took the necessary coursework, post graduate hours, practicum, internship and supervision to become a ATR (Registered Art Therapist). I then became board certified (ATR-BC) in 1995.
Neela: You write about the idea that people will go to greater lengths to avoid pain that to gain pleasure. What do you mean by that, and why is that the case?
SH: If you think about it history has a way of repeating itself and often it is not in a pleasurable way. Wanting to avoid pain over seeking pleasure is based on unresolved internal conflicts and lack of acceptance of past experiences and the need for control in current situations which somehow simulate the past. It is immersed in negative emotions and people will do anything to avoid the associated pain. It is ego based and internally driven by fear. Generally, the fears are illusions determined by the "what if?" questions. Avoiding pain is about staying inside the confines of rigid beliefs and thinking that stepping out of the confines of these beliefs is a dangerous risk. Over time people adapt their way of life and self to compensate for the avoidance of pain.
Neela: How did you develop the exercises used throughout the book?
SH: My exercises are a combination of my experience working as an inpatient and outpatient clinical art therapist and adjunct professor to address the needs of the various populations. Since I had been a public school teacher prior to returning to graduate school, I had experience in writing curriculum and transferred those skills into writing these art exercises.
Neela: Can these exercises work for people who may not be very visual, but who are in tune with sounds, smells, etc?
SH: These exercises are targeted for everyone despite their learning style. Most of my clients and many of my students are not visual learners. It is the process of the art not the art product which I focus on and translate to various aspects of life.
Neela: Who is your target audience for the book?
SH: My target audience is people who recognize that attitude is everything and realize that they need to adjust their attitudes and are looking for ways to do so. It is for people who want to get out of their own box of self-doubt, worry and fear and work on self-acceptance and improvement.
Neela: What would you say to readers who may be skeptical about the power of such artistic excercises, in adjusting their attitudes?
SH: You won't know unless you try and attitude is everything!!
Neela: Do you think that people who are more inclined to be involved in artistic careers, hobbies, etc., are more likely to adjust their attitudes and "respond" to situations rather than "react" to them? If so, why?
SH: No, I don't believe that artistic inclination has anything to do with understanding reactions and responses. I believe that people with hobbies may be able to de-stress through their hobby but that is not the same as consciously addressing reactions and the cause for the stress. When it comes to artistic inclination self-imposed criticism and perfectionism can actually fuel fears and reactionary tendencies.
Neela: Is there anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
SH: One of the most profound things I learned in my art therapy training was the belief, "there is no right or wrong" when it came to creative self-expression. It has been gratifying to watch individuals blossom when they integrate this belief not only to creative self-expression but to life in general. Anything is possible with an art@tude.
ART@TUDES: Mastering the Art of Your Attitude
ISBN: 0972067809
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