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GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — When you can't find the words, art can help express what's bothering you.
Whether a drawing, painting, working with clay or making a mask, art can help unlock in adults and children the things that may be too painful to talk about.
Joni Beckner is an art therapist and psychotherapist at ArtLight Therapy and Studios where she uses art to help people express fears, sadness and other problems.
“There's so much information we can get from the artwork by tapping the subconscious,” Beckner said.
Beckner's private practice is located in a cozy room inside the Doc Shore House, 327 Seventh St. Inside there's an easel and paints, a drawing table with pencils, pastels and clay.
There's a Buddha Board where children draw with water, and watch as the image slowly fades as it dries.
“It's about impermanence, of course,” Beckner said. “It's one way a 5-year-old opened up. He loves it.”
Other kids play with the sand tray, selecting different objects — a starfish, seashells, glass water drops — to create different scenes.
“I might pick up a figure, and before you know it, they're interacting and I get more information,” Beckner said.
The sand tray is way to create a metaphorical picture of what they're going through,” Beckner said. “It's an indirect way of going though the trauma in a less threatening way.”
When a young child experiences trauma, art can help provide the words to what happened when the child herself may not have the vocabulary, Beckner said.
Beckner often works with adolescents who may decide to draw a picture, divided into three parts: “the drawing or painting of the me I see; the me others see; and the me no one sees,” Beckner said.
“Asking about elements in the picture brings on more dialog. The whole visual piece activates a different part of our brain.”
Along with her private practice Beckner has worked with Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado for the past 11 years where she uses art in individual and group counseling with children and teens who have lost a loved one.
That work led Beckner to pursue a Master's degree in Art Therapy from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. While different psychotherapists may use art therapy principles, Beckner is the only registered art therapist on the Western Slope.
“I was seeing in my work the artmaking was amazing and using it in the counseling was invaluable,” Beckner said.
“Most of the population I work with is dealing with depression, anxiety, life transitions, or abuse or trauma.”
Using art in health care crosses the spectrum, Beckner said. There's artwork on the walls of clinics for example, that inspire healing. Volunteers sometimes do artwork with patients.
“In a broader sense, creativity itself is healing,” she said.
The term Art Therapy though, implies education and expertise in counseling and psychotherapy, she said.
Psychotherapist Lisa Burns is not a registered art therapist, but she studied art therapy with one of the nation's art therapy pioneers — Maxine Borowski Junge — while earning her Master's degree in Counseling. Burns has used art therapy principles in her own practice.
“Research shows art therapy helps get the client to a place to verbalize better — they can get more out of the talk therapy piece,” Burns said.
“When working with people with fears, traumas, and phobias, art therapy is a way to get that out of them and on to the paper. It's now in a new location — outside of themselves.”
For more information visit: fineartstudioonline/jonibeckner
Whether a drawing, painting, working with clay or making a mask, art can help unlock in adults and children the things that may be too painful to talk about.
Joni Beckner is an art therapist and psychotherapist at ArtLight Therapy and Studios where she uses art to help people express fears, sadness and other problems.
“There's so much information we can get from the artwork by tapping the subconscious,” Beckner said.
Beckner's private practice is located in a cozy room inside the Doc Shore House, 327 Seventh St. Inside there's an easel and paints, a drawing table with pencils, pastels and clay.
There's a Buddha Board where children draw with water, and watch as the image slowly fades as it dries.
“It's about impermanence, of course,” Beckner said. “It's one way a 5-year-old opened up. He loves it.”
Other kids play with the sand tray, selecting different objects — a starfish, seashells, glass water drops — to create different scenes.
“I might pick up a figure, and before you know it, they're interacting and I get more information,” Beckner said.
The sand tray is way to create a metaphorical picture of what they're going through,” Beckner said. “It's an indirect way of going though the trauma in a less threatening way.”
When a young child experiences trauma, art can help provide the words to what happened when the child herself may not have the vocabulary, Beckner said.
Beckner often works with adolescents who may decide to draw a picture, divided into three parts: “the drawing or painting of the me I see; the me others see; and the me no one sees,” Beckner said.
“Asking about elements in the picture brings on more dialog. The whole visual piece activates a different part of our brain.”
Along with her private practice Beckner has worked with Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado for the past 11 years where she uses art in individual and group counseling with children and teens who have lost a loved one.
That work led Beckner to pursue a Master's degree in Art Therapy from St. Mary-of-the-Woods College in Indiana. While different psychotherapists may use art therapy principles, Beckner is the only registered art therapist on the Western Slope.
“I was seeing in my work the artmaking was amazing and using it in the counseling was invaluable,” Beckner said.
“Most of the population I work with is dealing with depression, anxiety, life transitions, or abuse or trauma.”
Using art in health care crosses the spectrum, Beckner said. There's artwork on the walls of clinics for example, that inspire healing. Volunteers sometimes do artwork with patients.
“In a broader sense, creativity itself is healing,” she said.
The term Art Therapy though, implies education and expertise in counseling and psychotherapy, she said.
Psychotherapist Lisa Burns is not a registered art therapist, but she studied art therapy with one of the nation's art therapy pioneers — Maxine Borowski Junge — while earning her Master's degree in Counseling. Burns has used art therapy principles in her own practice.
“Research shows art therapy helps get the client to a place to verbalize better — they can get more out of the talk therapy piece,” Burns said.
“When working with people with fears, traumas, and phobias, art therapy is a way to get that out of them and on to the paper. It's now in a new location — outside of themselves.”
For more information visit: fineartstudioonline/jonibeckner
Radio Room gallery to feature artwork of children's grief, healing
The Gallery at the Radio Room will feature in June the works of the child and teen program at Hospice and Palliative Care of Western Colorado.
“Drawn Together: Images of Grief Loss and Healing” is an exhibit of approximately 25 pieces, including two-dimensional works of various mediums, plus masks and memory boxes. The artists vary in age from four to 17 years old. The artwork was created during individual counseling and grief support groups in the home setting, at schools, and at the Hospice child and teen center. Some of the drawings and paintings were created as memorials; others are expressions of feelings and memories associated with the loss. Child and teen program counselors use art as a process to assist clients with expressing the complex emotions of bereavement. “The hope is that the exhibit will provide a forum for the larger community to acknowledge and witness the losses of these young people, and by doing so, become a part of their healing,” said Joni Beckner, Hospice coordinator of youth services. A Celebration of the Artists will be held 5-7 p.m. Thursday, June 9, at the gallery, located at 1310 Ute Ave. The community is invited to attend and learn more about the child and teen program. Light refreshments will be served. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., and by appointment at (970) 241-8801. For more information about the exhibit, contact the child and teen center at (970) 245-5377. |
