I'm not an art teacher. I'm studying to be an art therapist. I know that traditionally, people take art classes and want to learn techniques to make their drawings look more realistic. When's the last time anyone took a painting course in how to make things look surreal? I'm sure they're out there but I don't know much interest in them, other than people already in the art community.
I'm studying to be an art therapist. There are some art therapists who were artists first and they are trained traditionally. My internship supervisor is one of these art therapists. There is much conflict already between art therapists and their titles. Art therapists fight to not be called the arts and crafts lady or the art lady. We try to not be just artists or just therapists.
My internship supervisor suggested, as she has before, that I take an art class. In the past, this has really pissed me off. I did a piece I wasn't happy about and then she told me that I needed to take a human figure drawing class to improve. I didn't do it. So, now, here she is again. She's waiting to see my human figures and the way I draw.
Since joining the art therapy program, I have become more expressive. At first, this caused a lot of anxiety. I had been taught traditionally. And anything outside of picture perfect was "weird" or "outsider" art. But as I've learned to express myself and enjoy using art materials, I have been less strict with myself about making anything traditional.
In the past year, I've worked as a recreation therapist assistant (it's just a title, I actually run art activities in a therapeutic session and without my license, at this point, it's NOT art therapy). In the past year, I've maybe been around one or two people who liked their artwork to be perfect and traditional. If they are, though, they usually are in a class. But a majority of people I've seen don't mind a little doodle here or a word or two here. They even like coloring pages. I also bring a lot of collage materials. I think collage is good for people who are too anxious to draw and have it be like a picture.
I resent my supervisor, though, for suggesting an art class. The first time, I wanted to pull out past art projects and show to her that I could do it. But I didn't. I just festered and sat with my anger. Now that I have an awesome professor who I can talk to about the issues in internship, I feel that I can change the angry energy into something else and not let it get to me so much.
Yes, she believes that an art therapists should demonstrate to her that they have art skills. This is a lot of pressure that I don't want to deal with. Yes, I do have these skills. And no, I'm not going to share them with her because it's better if I just do my thing and not worry about how she (or others) might judge me.
Only one or two people who I've worked with in the art activities wanted to have something perfect. I think they wanted me to draw a star. I wouldn't and said I didn't know how. And they've said, "How are you going to be an art therapist if you can't even draw a star?" While it's a low blow, I don't think my art therapy license will ever depend on me knowing how to draw a star. I often encourage the clients to do their own artwork, no matter if they like it or not, because eventually, they do like it. They do get a sense of achievement. I don't want to take that away (and I'm not going to draw stars either!).
Vanessa
