Nona Orbach
This week in Israel, art therapists held a conference dedicated to materials. A lecture, a panel, workshops, and an installation of materials remarkably expressed our deep longing to make materials more central to art therapy. We aimed to grant a vast presence and stage to …
A toddler asks her kindergarten teacher: what should I draw now? What does her question mean? It seems that she needs help and thinks the correct answer is in the world somewhere, not within herself. Her teacher knows what she should do and not her. …
Essentially, permission is an experience of allowing, acceptance, and belonging, between two people or parts of oneself. A subtle questioning—Am I allowed to be who I am?—is answered with permission, which creates and permeates the mutual affinity. One’s feelings shift from uncertainty and hesitation to …
Seeing a Spiritual Blueprint in Action—Jackson Pollock The following is a text from my book The Good Enough Studio, that demonstrates aspects of seeing the spiritual blueprint of an accomplished artist in action, quite literally, as we see Jackson Pollock in the act of painting. …
The studio is a container for many languages: Instruments talk. Materials talk. A brush speaks in a different language than a spatula or a hammer, or a glue-gun. A pencil speaks a different language than oil pastel. My aim is to set these allies in …
presentation as inspiration Havi Katchalsky: art and food Presenting a meal or art materials on a table is food to the body and mind. It similarly affects us. It calls for action through objects, …
What is my real task as an art educator? I teach a child to be more and more themselves. I grant permission and encourage independence of thought, style, pace, process, and collaborations. I understand my task as an assistant to human beings as they experience …
Malka Haas is one of the pioneers who researched children’s art at the beginning of the 20th century. She is also the inventor of the Junkyard that influenced countless kindergartens in Israel. It is an outdoor space for children to create mostly in groups. After …
Even if you do not have a studio you can still create! Here is a suggestion for the creation of a series of paperwork. I often use this process. You can implement this basic idea of limiting conditions and series to your preference of medium. …
The Good Enough Studio Art Therapy Through the Prism of Space, Matter, and Action One of the book’s main threads is the idea of permission in therapy and education and how it also manifested in the language of materials and studio setting. …