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. …
The artwork substrate accumulates all created upon it. The substrate is the womb’s process. It contains a metaphorical relationship like a mother and baby. Artwork created upon different kinds of paper, wood, or canvas holds a specific spiritual and mental meaning that supports and resonates …
Materials are patiently waiting for us to provide them with a verbal voice that will elucidate how actions and matter represent emotional and cognitive transformation. I believe this is essential for our future generations of art therapists. Here is a story from my new book: …
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 …
When and where is the shift between an open studio setting to cluttered storage space? If you are an art educator, an art therapist, please ask yourself: Are all the things on my open shelves sufficiently varied, yet not too much? How are many sets …
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. …
In many kindergartens in Israel, there is typical disturbing behavior of children. They stop drawing and scribbling, and if they do, they become frustrated and say their drawings are ugly. In these kindergartens, coloring pages are given by the adults, parents, that sometimes draw an …
