Those who create art find peace, joy in creation
For some, it is sustenance
3/4/2013Making art nourishes the artist before it feeds the viewer.
“The arts help people achieve integration, coherence, and peace,” says Charlene Taylor, who teaches art therapy at Lourdes University.
The very act of creating pulls the mind toward possibilities, whether one paints, sculpts, invents, writes, makes music, bakes, carves, dances, knits, or plants a garden. “These are the avenues by which we learn, resolve, stay present in, and celebrate our life,” Taylor says.
When circumstances change because of illness, injury, or aging, we must find new ways of doing and being: no matter the situation, art provides a way to develop potential. She cites Helen Keller as inspiration for her belief in the power of art to heal.
Put another way, “art is a wound turned into light” (attributed to the late Georges Braque, French artist and sculptor).
The Blade spoke with four people for whom art has been both pleasure and sustenance.
PHOTO GALLERY: Slideshow of artists' work
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Dave Wisniewski: ‘I ... plow ahead’
Being blind is not the best attribute for a painter. “It makes it a bit more complicated,” says Dave Wisniewski of South Toledo. READ MORE.
Gary Hovey: ‘I adapt’
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Klaire Russell: ‘New Life’
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