salt lake rises

March 6th, a small group of art therapists in the Salt Lake City area gathered to discuss forming an association to promote art therapy in Salt Lake and Utah.

The main topic was the low pay in Utah, the lack of knowledge or respect for art therapy in the local health care community, and the historical catastrophe of the Art Therapy program at the University of Utah (the school was sued for something I am not clear about, lost the case, and now won't touch "art therapy" with a ten foot pole).

The gathering was a chance for everyone to meet one another. The main topic centered around how to survive economically, how to gain respect as a profession and how to organize to promote our craft.

This summer Ida Yoked (a gifted therapist from New York who recently moved to Utah)is presenting on photo therapy at the 21st Summer Institute in the Human Services at the Univeristy of Utah (website http://www.socwk.utah.edu/pace/si21/index.asp). I found it interesting that two members of our group found the cover of the brochure of the Summer Institute "disturbing". (see image)

From my perspective the group will offer me a chance to hear how other professionals are working, and perhaps get some insight into their techniques. It will also give me a forum to air some of my views and see how they fly.

I suggested a trip out the Smithson's Spiral Jetty would be a worthwhile art adventure for the group. As it turns out it is over two hours from Salt Lake and is underwater most of the year except for late fall. I'll have to work around that.

The next meeting is scheduled in May.

self-portrait man-of-light

(acrylic on paper 38"x38")

best guess for the painting c. 1999-2000.
from an ongoing series of self-portraits (self-realizations through unconscious painting).

the process:
unplanned from the get-go.
not even sure of the subject until i start (the self-portrait theme sprouted from a workbook suggestion) .
colors, brush size, paper size and shape all chosen spur of the moment.
typical time-lapse = 45 min. - 1 hour.

very spontaneous, keeping the paint wet and moving.
keep it flowing, no time to think.
going with whatever it feels right...trust
does it always result in something "beautiful"?
hardly.
sometimes trite, sometimes overworked, sometimes boring, sometimes a grand surprise.
it's most fun when it "paints itself", when it comes together with no effort.
i'm most pleased when there is humor, a pun, a joke, something witty.

not interested in "fine art", conceptualizing.
main concern is to connect with the medium and let it take the lead.

response:
my head became something of a lamp-post globe, a shining light.
surrounded by much earthy darkness.
a green glow on my right.
lack of details in face, body and overall can have many implications.
today's impression is that it is too hard for me to detach from being the creator.
joy schaverien ("the revealing image") talks about transference and countertransference in works of art, particularly in therapy. how can i detach from what i remember of the creative process? or from my attachments to what i want this work to mean TO ME!? facelessness to me is not necessarily bad. in my lexicon it can equate to spiritual "nothingness" that is the void, that i see us as all a part of. am i denying my individuality through this work or am i proclaiming my unity to the "facelessness" of spirit? A few years ago I began training with a group who see themselves as "lightworkers", i.e., shining spiritual light in the world. i see this painting as a forerunner to that concept of being. for out of the darkness (the chaos...) comes the light. the form is earthy and bloodred, amorphous and generalized to the point of loss of identity...in communion with all? i get a huge feeling of power from the piece which pleases me. although it's a self-portait, i have trouble identifying with it...it's not me so much as a iconographic sculpture of my being. i'd like to hear responses.

there was a great deal of satisfaction in the creation of this painting (differing from our friend mick jagger)...i remember feeling of a sense of wholeness and completion when it was done..
with a border to "keep it all in".
i'd like to think it's my emerging consciousness.

background

This is a new stab at communicating with the alternative therapy community.
All posts are welcome, all therapies.
I have friends in drama therapy, music therapy, sand trays, dance therapy, and more.

Briefly, my background and credentials:
I live in Salt Lake City. I have been year just weeks short of a year.
Earned a Masters in Art Therapy (2001) at Cal State University, Los Angeles (not and AATA approved program sadly).
My degree did not include Dept of Psychology training and therefore no licensure.
Currently I am pursuing the following plan of action to create a living from this elusive profession: I am volunteering at as many institutions as possible, to create a "need" for my work, and thereby, some payment.
It has worked initially and we'll just have to see where it goes from here.
I am a 60 year old single male (is this some kind of match-making gig??!!)
My previous career was as a commercial photographer.

My long term goal is to create an art-therapeutic (primarily painting at the moment) parenting program where child(ren) and parents participate together.

As for topics on this blog, they can be from career questions and solutions, to technical mumbo-jumbo, to simple descriptions of experiences that were rewarding (or darn right frustrating).

I will be posting artwork and discussing it.
You're welcome to do the same (I get to figure out how a respondant can post images...)

Cheers.

Dean.