Art Encircles Life: Journeying With, In, and Through the Expressive Arts

Article Information

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2024) 10(1):156–174 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2024/10/8

Art Encircles Life: Journeying With, In, and Through the Expressive Arts

Abstract

This article presents the work of two expressive arts therapists who traveled and taught around the world between February and April 2024. Our journey actually started on October 7, 2023, when we were supposed to start teaching in Israel, and instead found ourselves waking up into the barbaric outbreak of this new Israeli–Hamas war. Since that time and in the aftermath of a world forever marked by this tragedy and its aftermath, we have been searching for ways of being of service and engaging in and amplifying our understanding of the ways in which the arts contribute toward healing and the building of resilience in times of conflict, war, and disaster. During our journey, we teach in established creative and expressive arts therapy training programs in South Africa and India as well as teach in burgeoning and newly developing programs in Zambia and China. Wherever we go we are surrounded by the arts and arts practices and learn again about the lifesaving universality and importance of artistic expression.

Keywords: creative arts therapies, expressive arts therapy, expressive arts, creative process

摘要

本文介绍了两位表达性艺术治疗师在 2024 年 2 月至 4 月期间游历到世界各地的教学工作。我们的旅程实际上始于 2023 年 10 月 7 日。当时我们本应在以色列开始教学，但一觉醒来，却发现以色列和哈马斯爆发了新一轮的野蛮战争。从那时起，世界被这场悲剧及其后果永远烙上印记。我们一直寻找侍奉的方式，并研究如何运用艺术促进冲突、战争和灾难时期的愈合和复原力的建设。在这次旅程中，我们不仅在南非和印度这些已经建立了创造性和表达性艺术治疗领域的国家，也在赞比亚和中国这样的新兴蓬勃发展的国家中的培训项目中进行了教学。无论走到哪里，我们都被艺术和艺术实践所包围，并再次了解到艺术表达的普遍性、重要性及拯救生命的作用。

关键词： 创造性艺术治疗, 表达性艺术治疗, 表达性艺术, 创造性过程