Explore Expressive Arts

"In the choice to let go of your known way of being,

the whole world is revealed to your new eyes."

Danna Faulds

Arts for Learning, Healing, Growth and Change

Expressive arts weaves together the art forms of dance, visual art, creative writing, drama, storytelling, music and movement. Each modality inspires and flows into the next, deepening the creative experience and crystalizing learning through layers of artistic expression and reflection.

Art can be understood as a reflection of, or metaphor for emotions and life experience. When looked upon with curiosity, our art work can spark questions which lead to new ideas and deeper understanding of ourselves and our relationship with the world around us.

Art making prompts offered in an expressive arts session are based on the philosophy of "low skill, high attunement." The goal is not to teach or judge artistic skills but to invite participants to become more present and curious by reflecting on our personal experience with both the creative process and the work of art itself.

Through expressive arts we learn to notice patterns and make connections between our thoughts, emotions and sensations in the body. We gain confidence in our own knowing of what we need in order to heal, grow and thrive.

Art is never interpreted by anyone other than the artist themselves.

Expressive arts offers opportunities to expand our comfort zones and challenge our usual ways of thinking and being, by taking small risks in a safe environment. We learn to think more creatively, to collaborate and problem solve and to be more open to change and new experiences through playful art making. Self-esteem is increased as we become more aware and accepting of who we are as a whole person and we become empowered to create change in situations that may have felt hopeless.

Art making invites us to leave the outside world behind for a while and enter an alternative world experience where we can imagine, play and experiment. The process of being in this world of creative flow can be very meditative and rejuvenating.

A nature based approach to expressive arts highlights the connections and relationships between all aspects of nature; human, and not human life, with an emphasis on art as a part of everyday life, as functional art, ritual and found in the beauty and creativity of everything we do.

Expressive arts and social change are natural extensions of each other, art can heal, create change and bring awareness. Art touches us in a visceral way as both participants in the art making and as spectators. Art tells a story on a deeper level that can heal,empower and prompt change within individuals and communities.

"As you work to heal your land, you will find that you will restore yourself."

Mary Reynolds

"In essence, we are a profession of doers....

We work via the arts to facilitate change. In doing so we also work to restore a fundamental capacity for imagination and play."

Karen Estrella

A Very Brief History

When expressive arts first emerged from the counterculture of the 1960's and 70's the field recognized the importance of arts for change, to break through conventional boundaries in community building and social action and "to bring an interdisciplinary arts experience into therapy, community and education in a new way." (Estrella, 2005) This inclusive approach was in stark contrast to other artistic forms of therapy that were linking themselves strictly to mental health work and applying more stringent regulations on practitioners in an attempt to legitimize artistic therapies among the psychotherapeutic community.

From it's very beginning, the expressive arts community has held a strong belief that the arts are for everyone and that multi-modal expressive arts has an important place, not only in therapy but in other areas such as education, organizational development, conflict resolution, personal and professional growth and many others. To this day the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA) has resisted restricting the field only to therapy. This openness, inclusivity and freedom to do expressive arts work in a wide variety of settings and contexts has come to define and legitimize the field in its own right.

To use the arts expressively means going into our inner realms to discover feelings and to express them through visual art, movement, sound, writing or drama. This process fosters release, self-understanding, insight and awakens creativity and transpersonal states of consciousness.
Natalie Rogers