Philosophy
Expressive Arts Facilitation uses artistic media to explore and deepen our relationship to psychological life. This use of the arts in therapy is based on two fundamental assumptions:
1.) There is an essential connection between art and life, which has been obscured as the arts have been turned into a commodity.
2.) There is an essential unity underlying the specialized practice of the various artistic disciplines.
These assumptions are grounded in anthropological, psychological and philosophical principles. Anthropologically, we can see the connection of art and life in traditional cultures, where the arts form the basis of ritual healing. The traditional healer is capable of expressing suffering and exploring conflict through art and ritual. Dance, music and song, mask making and dramatic enactment are all used to encounter demonic forces and invoke healing powers.
More recently, the development of depth psychology in the last century has brought about a re-visioning of the life of the psyche. In the writings of authors like D.W. Winnicott and James Hillman, we see a renewed emphasis on psychological creativity as the source of emotional well being. The goal of psychotherapy can then be seen as a healing of the imagination to enable people to lead creative lives.
The growth of philosophical movements like phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, deconstructionism and constructivism has revealed the limitations of modern conceptions of rationality. This in turn has lead to a renewed emphasis on the cognitive value of the imagination and the power of artistic knowledge and practice. Finally, new qualitative methodologies are validating the research capacities of the arts.
Heidegger's concept of "poiesis" (the essence of the creative act) provides a basis for seeing both the origin of all the arts in a single fundamental source and the essential connection of creative imagination with life. Creativity is at the center of human existence. The goal of Expressive Arts Therapy is to free that creative power.
"It is incontestable that ethics and aesthetics are two different areas. Still, I believe they rest on a common experience: the world calls and I respond"
- Majken Jacoby
Source: http://www.isis-canada.org/html/philosophy.html
1.) There is an essential connection between art and life, which has been obscured as the arts have been turned into a commodity.
2.) There is an essential unity underlying the specialized practice of the various artistic disciplines.
These assumptions are grounded in anthropological, psychological and philosophical principles. Anthropologically, we can see the connection of art and life in traditional cultures, where the arts form the basis of ritual healing. The traditional healer is capable of expressing suffering and exploring conflict through art and ritual. Dance, music and song, mask making and dramatic enactment are all used to encounter demonic forces and invoke healing powers.
More recently, the development of depth psychology in the last century has brought about a re-visioning of the life of the psyche. In the writings of authors like D.W. Winnicott and James Hillman, we see a renewed emphasis on psychological creativity as the source of emotional well being. The goal of psychotherapy can then be seen as a healing of the imagination to enable people to lead creative lives.
The growth of philosophical movements like phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, deconstructionism and constructivism has revealed the limitations of modern conceptions of rationality. This in turn has lead to a renewed emphasis on the cognitive value of the imagination and the power of artistic knowledge and practice. Finally, new qualitative methodologies are validating the research capacities of the arts.
Heidegger's concept of "poiesis" (the essence of the creative act) provides a basis for seeing both the origin of all the arts in a single fundamental source and the essential connection of creative imagination with life. Creativity is at the center of human existence. The goal of Expressive Arts Therapy is to free that creative power.
"It is incontestable that ethics and aesthetics are two different areas. Still, I believe they rest on a common experience: the world calls and I respond"
- Majken Jacoby
Source: http://www.isis-canada.org/html/philosophy.html
