- Email: [email protected]
Pre-image considerations as a therapeutic process
The Arts in Psychotherapy,
Vol. 9 pp. 55-63,
PRE-IMAGE
LILLIAN
Ankho
International
CONSIDERATIONS
RHINEHART,
Inc.,
1982. Printed
in the U.S.A.
AS A THERAPEUTIC
PROCESS
MA, ATR, MFCC and PAULA ENGELHORN,
MA, ATR*
INTRODUCTION In the evolution of art therapy, the images produced by patients have been the primary concern of the art therapist. Perhaps this is so because art therapy developed out of a Freudian medical model. Freud, in the beginning of this century, made a very convincing connection between art and psychotherapy. He saw art as a way neurotic individuals could find their way back from a world of fantasy. Additionally, the application of pictorial art was established in 1810 with the publication of John Haslam’s text on John Tilley Matthews’ drawings (Henzell, 1978). Since then, the diagnostic application of image making has become the stock-in-trade of psychiatry in institutional settings and community mental health centers, making the image of primary importance both in diagnosis and treatment. The text by Emanuel F. Hammer (1958) on the application of projective drawings has become the fundamental diagnostic text for art therapy training programs. Margaret Naumburg, who established the discipline of art therapy, brought a strong foundation of Freudian psychoanalysis into the developing field (Ulman, et al., 1977). The important contributions of Ulman and Kwiatkowska in diagnostic testing follow the established tradition of focus on the image. We believe it is correct to state that the major schools of art therapy have been basically interested in image formation. The intent of this article is to introduce another dimension to the way art therapists work with clients by adding pre-image considerations as a therapeutic process itself. By pre-image considerations we are referring to line, form and *The authors
are practitioners
at Eagle
Rock Trail Art Therapy
color as they are drawn by the client. We are suggesting that image formations be considered only as part of the total visual statement of the client during the art process. We further suggest that image can emerge in a new perspective after line, form and color have been thoroughly explored for possible meaning by the therapist and the client during the session. THEORETICAL
FOUNDATIONS
What we are learning about line, form and color came about after several years of practice as art therapists working in a more traditional way: talking about the imagery after a completed art assignment. When we started working together, we combined thirty years experience in public school education, art, psychology, and the practice of art therapy. We shared a keen interest in the possibility of bringing the “art in process” to the foreground in our work with clients. To this end, we made a discovery which has changed entirely the style of our work as therapists. As we explored further with clients the pre-image considerations of line, form and color, we began to see that these essential elements of the art process were not being utilized to their utmost potential for therapeutic purposes. The focus of our work these past three years has been in developing line, form and color into a therapeutic process. Our developing work is based on Gestalt Therapy and Jungian thought. The Gestalt Therapy concepts of not overlooking the obvious, honoring the client’s own interpretation, and Institute,
Santa
0197-4556/82/010055-09$02.25/O Copyright 0 1982 Ankho International
Rosa,
Inc.
CA.
RHINEHART
56
AND ENGELHORN
staying in the now (Perls, 1969) have helped us in formulating the idea of moving the therapeutic intervention into the pre-image phase of a client’s work. The Jungian belief (1964) in symbols as alive, unconscious messengers, fraught with meaning, has equally influenced us. However, we are not stressing the image as symbol in this article. Our focus here is on the pre-image considerations. CLIENT
POPULATION
Our client population are functioning normal neurotics, who need to enhance ego structure and/or growth potential through the art process. We do private therapy and work as co-therapists with each of our individual clients. A private session lasts for two hours, and we prefer to see clients twice a month so that the client has an opportunity to digest the insights from each session. The client is asked to choose the medium and type and size of paper. Once the choice has been made, the client sits at a table, we sitting on either side, choosing to do so because we believe placing ourselves directly opposite would be too threatening to the client. Our directions are simple. As the work begins we say, “You may talk about whatever you wish as long as you allow your hand to move with line, form and color on the paper in front of you.” In the beginning of individual therapy we find these directions necessary because the clients come to us familiar with verbal therapy. To them the words seem much more important than any information their hand may unconsciously state on the paper. However, as C. G. Jung said in relation to graphic expression, “Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect has wrestled in vain” (Tuby, 1977). Over time we find the attitude of our clients changes as they experience the dynamic quality of line, form and color. The verbal content becomes less important as they begin to monitor their own responses to the evolving art statement. In this way, the art process emerges as the primary focus of therapy. We see our task as therapists as that of assisting the client in moving the art process to a point of resolution. Our interventions are based primarily on the emerging pre-image considerations rather than on verbal content. However, this does not preclude the possibility of
authentic verbal content becoming foreground at any given moment. As the client begins, we become observers of the process. While Lillian tends to listen more keenly to the verbal content of a client’s beginning statements, Paula is watching the pre-image statements as they develop on the page. We are both listening and watching for authenticity to emerge from the verbal or pre-image content. At the start of a session, we may flow back and forth between verbal and pre-image clues. As the therapy session progresses, we focus more and more on trusting the hand of the client in the drawing process to give us the therapeutic clues needed. As stated earlier, our way of working does not preclude or negate the value of the images produced by the client; rather it stresses first attention to the important therapeutic clues the client has given through the unconscious pre-image use of line, form and color. We work in this way, maintaining the art process as the primary focus. In this continuing “art in process” way of working, verbalization and art statements are integrated into a total form. Though words can become important at any given moment, the art process always emerges as the primary element of the therapy session. As an example of how this therapeutic process works, we include the following case studies. Thr CUSP of Mary. The person described in this first case study is a professional middle-aged woman. She is an intelligent, introspective person who had done considerable verbal therapy before she came to us. Mary’s main interest in pursuing the art process was in personal growth. We have seen her for a year and a half. The drawings presented in this paper were done approximately six months after therapy had begun. The five drawings show the progression of line, form and color. In drawing one (Fig. l), Mary identilied the large rectangular area as a block, something she could not get through. She then drew short, nervous lines up to the block. The block was drawn in black and the nervous lines in purple oil pastels. Drawing two (Fig. 2) was done in purple. The block had grown larger and the lines still could not get through. Before Mary did the third drawing, we asked her to express some of her anger which had begun to surface in her second drawing; the quality of the long, diagonal lines and her words indicated the surfacing
PRE-IMAGE
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
CONSIDERATIONS
57
RHINEHART
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
AND ENGELHORN
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
anger. For the third drawing (Fig. 3) she chose a red pastel and did heavy, definitive lines on the page. As she moved her hand, we asked her to verbally identify each line. In the third drawing there is no block. The release of anger allowed Mary to again use a purple oil pastel and to move freely on the page as illustrated in the fourth drawing (Fig. 4). In the last drawing (Fig. 5), the block continued to be absent and Mary easily allowed her hand to express a symbol of hope. It took several more sessions for Mary to identify consciously what the block had been in this particular series of drawings. The important beginning work of allowing her anger to move on paper was a tremendous aid in her ability to consciously identify the block or stopping point of growth in her life. The Case of Elaine. The second case presented represents the work of another professional woman, an artist, wife and mother of three children. When Elaine came to us she had a long history of depression, evidenced by the flatness of her voice and her lack of vitality. A graphic example of how this depression robbed her of energy is illustrated in the next three drawings. In the first drawing (Fig. 6) she chose oil pastel
and drew straight grey lines at the top of the page. The lines looked like a flat EKG. We asked her what was underneath the lines. Again grey was chosen to illustrate the underside of the flat EKG pattern. However, life began to return in this series of lines. In the second drawing (Fig. 7) the grey lines on top have more movement. Additionally, underneath the grey the drawing is done in vivid color. As Jung stated, “When color is in the art work, feelings are involved” (196&62, 1973). The struggle between flat depression (or the Implosion Layer) and erupting life (or the Explosion Layer) (Fagan & Shepherd, 1970) continues in the third drawing (Fig. 8), but the dramatic quality of lines drawn in vivid color begins to dominate the page. The graphic example of depression versus the life force was a turning point in Elaine’s therapy. At present she is better able to express her emotions, and her depressive states are much less frequent and of shorter duration. As in the case of Mary, this one example of Elaine’s work does not represent a dramatic treatment cure. It does represent an example of how we work in long-term therapy, and how line, form and color can in themselves be a therapeutic process.
60
RHINEHART
AND ENGELHORN
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
61
Fig. 8
MEDIA AS THERAPEUTIC
AID
One other important factor we work with and have not yet mentioned has to do with the choice of media made by the client in the beginning of the session. We are aware of the inherent characteristics of each medium chosen. Lines drawn in finger paint are quite different from lines drawn with a hard edge oil pastel. Each line, each color, each form has a story to tell about the client, and each medium the client chooses adds another dimension. As an example of the endless possibilities of line, form and color when aided by different media, we cite a woman client who wanted to express an unclear emotion. Her only clue was that this emotion was strong, deep, and could be expressed in the color red. She quickly gathered every medium she could think of and began to explore red in each one. By a process of trial and error, she eliminated all of the red media except for finger paint and soft pastels. These she felt would express what she was feeling. Because we have observed that the dominant hand will often have a different message than the non-dominant hand, we asked her to let each of her hands make
an art process statement. Her right or dominant hand expressed straight, clear red lines in soft pastel. She knew and stated with affect exactly what each line represented. We then asked her to explore red finger paint with her left hand. Her left hand caressed the red paint and she began to cry. The medium of finger paint, the color chosen, and the use of her non-dominant hand helped her to explore, identify and finally to begin closure on a very traumatic, unfinished Gestalt. While not interpreting the client’s work, our observation of line, form and color and media chosen gave clues for the interventions made during the therapeutic process. We are in agreement with Janie Rhyne’s (1973) statement, “The way we use lines, shapes and colors, in relationship to each other and to the space we put them in, indicates something about how we pattern our lives.” Additionally, the work of Emanuel Hammer (1958) has given us valuable information about possible meanings of line, form and color in his extensive work on projective drawings. Though fine diagnosticians and art therapists have seen
62
RHINEHART
AND
the inherent statements made by line, form and color, the focus of art therapy has remained a separation of content and process. We view our emphasis on line, form and color as a bridge which links these two. Within this seemingly simple mode of working lies a complexity of therapeutic information. Let us consider separately line, form and color to see some of what each may be conveying during an art process session. Line: Do the lines flow, or do they jerk across the page? What meaning does the client give to a particular line or series of lines? Are the lines jagged, broken, heavy, soft? Is the page large enough to hold all the lines, or does the client need a larger piece of paper to express what he is feeling? The following example will serve to illustrate how we use line as a therapeutic aid. A student, whose mind raced at such a pace that she couldn’t keep up with herself, always drew very, very fast lines. We asked her to slow the lines down, and worked with her until she began to feel a slower internal pace. She then spent several weeks at home drawing lines slowly as an exercise. The act of consciously slowing down on paper has helped her internal pace to slow down. Form: Do certain shapes and forms repeat themselves in a client’s work? Do they become larger or smaller or multiply as rendered? Does their placement on the paper change over time? Images can often hide the form, which may have a greater message for the client. For instance, a client consistently drew circles and a large flowing form coming out of the circles. The forms were circles and half-circles; the image given us by the client was, “this is a picture of a happy The forms of circles and half-circles dragon.” proved to be a far richer area for exploration than the “happy dragon” image. Forms consistently used in any series of images by a client can be a source of creative exploration for the art therapist, and may prove to be much more helpful than the image itself. Color: Does the client predominantly use a particular color? Does this color choice seem to fit the client’s emotional state? Is there a particular color or colors the client consistently avoids? What is the client’s meaning for the color being used? Is the meaning always the same? Beyond
ENGELHORN this, we can look at universal symbology of color to see if there is yet more information that may give us a clue to the meaning and movement of the color. We have often worked with clients who cannot make a clear color statement. Their color choices tend to blend into a muddy state. When we see color used in this manner, the client is usually confused and unclear about a present situation. We have found it therapeutic to ask the client to separate the colors. Simply by having the color used in a clearer way helps the client identify the confusion. CONCLUSION In this article we have only touched upon the discoveries we are making as we explore this method of line, form and color. It is a method that is teachable and can be modified for use by therapists who serve a variety of clients and patients in the therapeutic community. It is exciting for us to discover a way which includes the art in process as the continuing focus of therapy. This gives recognition to the inherent qualities for healing and growth contained in the art process itself as it becomes the mode for the pre-image considerations we have described here. The classic argument in art therapy has been based on the production or on the verbalization which follows the art production. As Elinor Ulman (1961) states, “Whatever its deficiencies, our two-word title (art therapy) at least indicates the two main trends in existing practice and theory: some art therapists put the emphasis on art and some on therapy.” In regard to Naumburg’s and Kramer’s work she goes on to state, “By Naumburg’s recent definitions, Kramer is an art teacher rather than an art therapist. Into Kramer’s ideological scheme, Naumburg fits as a psychotherapist.” For us neither of these stances is the issue, for we see both sides of the argument and honor both opinions. We agree with Kramer and her belief in the healing quality inherent in the creative process. We also agree with Naumburg and her belief in the images produced as constituting symbolic speech. Our work has led us to the point where we believe it isn’t a matter of art or therapy; it is a matter of integrating these two into one whole-art therapy. One of the important contributions Fritz Perls
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
made in Gestalt Therapy was his concept of not overlooking the obvious. He placed great emphasis on the statements the client’s hand might be making as opposed to the person’s verbal messages. Not overlooking the obvious is the basis for our work of integrating art and therapy. We began to concentrate on those obvious elements which come before image-that is, line, form and color. The lines, the form, the coloreach are making important statements. As Fritz Perls asked people to exaggerate their hand movements, which helped authentic verbal statements to be made, we began to ask clients to repeat and exaggerate their statements of line, form and color on the page. Authentic unconscious verbal statements emerged in this way, with the added benefit of clients seeing and becoming conscious of these statements. Through the process of not overlooking the obvious, line, form and color emerged for us as a major overlooked bridge between art and therapy. REFERENCES FAGAN,
JOEN
& SHEPHERD,
IRMA
LEE,
Eds.
(1970)
63
Gestalt Therapy Nmv. New York: Science and Behavior Books. HAMMER, EMANUEL F., Ed. (1958) The Clinical Applications of Projective Drawings. Springfield, Ill.: C. C. Thomas. HENZELL, JOHN (1978) Art and therapy. Inscape, Vol. 2, No. 2. The Journal of the British Association of Art Therapists. Printed by Rye Express at the Oval Heathcote Williams Grant Project. JUNG, C. G. (1973) “The Interpretations of Visions” (excerpts from the notes of Mary Foote), Spring 1960, 1961, 1962. New York: Spring Publications. JUNG, C. G. (1964) Man and His Symbols. New York: Doubleday. PERLS, FREDERICK S. (1969) Gestalt Therapy Verhatim. Lafayette, California: Real People Press. RHYNE, JANIE (1973) The Gestalt Art Experience. Monterey, CA: Brooks Cole. TUBY, MOLLY (1977) The healing power of symbols. Journa/forJungian Studies, No. 23. Printed by the Analytical Psychology Club, London. ULMAN, ELINOR (1961) Art therapy: Problems of defmition. Bulletin of Art Therapy, Vol. I, No. 2. ULMAN, ELINOR & DACHINGER, PENNY, Eds. (1975) Art Therapy in Theory and Practice. New York: Schocken Books. ULMAN, ELINOR, KRAMER, EDITH & KWIATKOWSKA, HANNA YAXA (1977) Art Therapy in the United States. Craftsbury Common, Vermont: Art Therapy Publications.
Vol. 9 pp. 55-63,
PRE-IMAGE
LILLIAN
Ankho
International
CONSIDERATIONS
RHINEHART,
Inc.,
1982. Printed
in the U.S.A.
AS A THERAPEUTIC
PROCESS
MA, ATR, MFCC and PAULA ENGELHORN,
MA, ATR*
INTRODUCTION In the evolution of art therapy, the images produced by patients have been the primary concern of the art therapist. Perhaps this is so because art therapy developed out of a Freudian medical model. Freud, in the beginning of this century, made a very convincing connection between art and psychotherapy. He saw art as a way neurotic individuals could find their way back from a world of fantasy. Additionally, the application of pictorial art was established in 1810 with the publication of John Haslam’s text on John Tilley Matthews’ drawings (Henzell, 1978). Since then, the diagnostic application of image making has become the stock-in-trade of psychiatry in institutional settings and community mental health centers, making the image of primary importance both in diagnosis and treatment. The text by Emanuel F. Hammer (1958) on the application of projective drawings has become the fundamental diagnostic text for art therapy training programs. Margaret Naumburg, who established the discipline of art therapy, brought a strong foundation of Freudian psychoanalysis into the developing field (Ulman, et al., 1977). The important contributions of Ulman and Kwiatkowska in diagnostic testing follow the established tradition of focus on the image. We believe it is correct to state that the major schools of art therapy have been basically interested in image formation. The intent of this article is to introduce another dimension to the way art therapists work with clients by adding pre-image considerations as a therapeutic process itself. By pre-image considerations we are referring to line, form and *The authors
are practitioners
at Eagle
Rock Trail Art Therapy
color as they are drawn by the client. We are suggesting that image formations be considered only as part of the total visual statement of the client during the art process. We further suggest that image can emerge in a new perspective after line, form and color have been thoroughly explored for possible meaning by the therapist and the client during the session. THEORETICAL
FOUNDATIONS
What we are learning about line, form and color came about after several years of practice as art therapists working in a more traditional way: talking about the imagery after a completed art assignment. When we started working together, we combined thirty years experience in public school education, art, psychology, and the practice of art therapy. We shared a keen interest in the possibility of bringing the “art in process” to the foreground in our work with clients. To this end, we made a discovery which has changed entirely the style of our work as therapists. As we explored further with clients the pre-image considerations of line, form and color, we began to see that these essential elements of the art process were not being utilized to their utmost potential for therapeutic purposes. The focus of our work these past three years has been in developing line, form and color into a therapeutic process. Our developing work is based on Gestalt Therapy and Jungian thought. The Gestalt Therapy concepts of not overlooking the obvious, honoring the client’s own interpretation, and Institute,
Santa
0197-4556/82/010055-09$02.25/O Copyright 0 1982 Ankho International
Rosa,
Inc.
CA.
RHINEHART
56
AND ENGELHORN
staying in the now (Perls, 1969) have helped us in formulating the idea of moving the therapeutic intervention into the pre-image phase of a client’s work. The Jungian belief (1964) in symbols as alive, unconscious messengers, fraught with meaning, has equally influenced us. However, we are not stressing the image as symbol in this article. Our focus here is on the pre-image considerations. CLIENT
POPULATION
Our client population are functioning normal neurotics, who need to enhance ego structure and/or growth potential through the art process. We do private therapy and work as co-therapists with each of our individual clients. A private session lasts for two hours, and we prefer to see clients twice a month so that the client has an opportunity to digest the insights from each session. The client is asked to choose the medium and type and size of paper. Once the choice has been made, the client sits at a table, we sitting on either side, choosing to do so because we believe placing ourselves directly opposite would be too threatening to the client. Our directions are simple. As the work begins we say, “You may talk about whatever you wish as long as you allow your hand to move with line, form and color on the paper in front of you.” In the beginning of individual therapy we find these directions necessary because the clients come to us familiar with verbal therapy. To them the words seem much more important than any information their hand may unconsciously state on the paper. However, as C. G. Jung said in relation to graphic expression, “Often the hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect has wrestled in vain” (Tuby, 1977). Over time we find the attitude of our clients changes as they experience the dynamic quality of line, form and color. The verbal content becomes less important as they begin to monitor their own responses to the evolving art statement. In this way, the art process emerges as the primary focus of therapy. We see our task as therapists as that of assisting the client in moving the art process to a point of resolution. Our interventions are based primarily on the emerging pre-image considerations rather than on verbal content. However, this does not preclude the possibility of
authentic verbal content becoming foreground at any given moment. As the client begins, we become observers of the process. While Lillian tends to listen more keenly to the verbal content of a client’s beginning statements, Paula is watching the pre-image statements as they develop on the page. We are both listening and watching for authenticity to emerge from the verbal or pre-image content. At the start of a session, we may flow back and forth between verbal and pre-image clues. As the therapy session progresses, we focus more and more on trusting the hand of the client in the drawing process to give us the therapeutic clues needed. As stated earlier, our way of working does not preclude or negate the value of the images produced by the client; rather it stresses first attention to the important therapeutic clues the client has given through the unconscious pre-image use of line, form and color. We work in this way, maintaining the art process as the primary focus. In this continuing “art in process” way of working, verbalization and art statements are integrated into a total form. Though words can become important at any given moment, the art process always emerges as the primary element of the therapy session. As an example of how this therapeutic process works, we include the following case studies. Thr CUSP of Mary. The person described in this first case study is a professional middle-aged woman. She is an intelligent, introspective person who had done considerable verbal therapy before she came to us. Mary’s main interest in pursuing the art process was in personal growth. We have seen her for a year and a half. The drawings presented in this paper were done approximately six months after therapy had begun. The five drawings show the progression of line, form and color. In drawing one (Fig. l), Mary identilied the large rectangular area as a block, something she could not get through. She then drew short, nervous lines up to the block. The block was drawn in black and the nervous lines in purple oil pastels. Drawing two (Fig. 2) was done in purple. The block had grown larger and the lines still could not get through. Before Mary did the third drawing, we asked her to express some of her anger which had begun to surface in her second drawing; the quality of the long, diagonal lines and her words indicated the surfacing
PRE-IMAGE
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
CONSIDERATIONS
57
RHINEHART
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
AND ENGELHORN
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
anger. For the third drawing (Fig. 3) she chose a red pastel and did heavy, definitive lines on the page. As she moved her hand, we asked her to verbally identify each line. In the third drawing there is no block. The release of anger allowed Mary to again use a purple oil pastel and to move freely on the page as illustrated in the fourth drawing (Fig. 4). In the last drawing (Fig. 5), the block continued to be absent and Mary easily allowed her hand to express a symbol of hope. It took several more sessions for Mary to identify consciously what the block had been in this particular series of drawings. The important beginning work of allowing her anger to move on paper was a tremendous aid in her ability to consciously identify the block or stopping point of growth in her life. The Case of Elaine. The second case presented represents the work of another professional woman, an artist, wife and mother of three children. When Elaine came to us she had a long history of depression, evidenced by the flatness of her voice and her lack of vitality. A graphic example of how this depression robbed her of energy is illustrated in the next three drawings. In the first drawing (Fig. 6) she chose oil pastel
and drew straight grey lines at the top of the page. The lines looked like a flat EKG. We asked her what was underneath the lines. Again grey was chosen to illustrate the underside of the flat EKG pattern. However, life began to return in this series of lines. In the second drawing (Fig. 7) the grey lines on top have more movement. Additionally, underneath the grey the drawing is done in vivid color. As Jung stated, “When color is in the art work, feelings are involved” (196&62, 1973). The struggle between flat depression (or the Implosion Layer) and erupting life (or the Explosion Layer) (Fagan & Shepherd, 1970) continues in the third drawing (Fig. 8), but the dramatic quality of lines drawn in vivid color begins to dominate the page. The graphic example of depression versus the life force was a turning point in Elaine’s therapy. At present she is better able to express her emotions, and her depressive states are much less frequent and of shorter duration. As in the case of Mary, this one example of Elaine’s work does not represent a dramatic treatment cure. It does represent an example of how we work in long-term therapy, and how line, form and color can in themselves be a therapeutic process.
60
RHINEHART
AND ENGELHORN
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
61
Fig. 8
MEDIA AS THERAPEUTIC
AID
One other important factor we work with and have not yet mentioned has to do with the choice of media made by the client in the beginning of the session. We are aware of the inherent characteristics of each medium chosen. Lines drawn in finger paint are quite different from lines drawn with a hard edge oil pastel. Each line, each color, each form has a story to tell about the client, and each medium the client chooses adds another dimension. As an example of the endless possibilities of line, form and color when aided by different media, we cite a woman client who wanted to express an unclear emotion. Her only clue was that this emotion was strong, deep, and could be expressed in the color red. She quickly gathered every medium she could think of and began to explore red in each one. By a process of trial and error, she eliminated all of the red media except for finger paint and soft pastels. These she felt would express what she was feeling. Because we have observed that the dominant hand will often have a different message than the non-dominant hand, we asked her to let each of her hands make
an art process statement. Her right or dominant hand expressed straight, clear red lines in soft pastel. She knew and stated with affect exactly what each line represented. We then asked her to explore red finger paint with her left hand. Her left hand caressed the red paint and she began to cry. The medium of finger paint, the color chosen, and the use of her non-dominant hand helped her to explore, identify and finally to begin closure on a very traumatic, unfinished Gestalt. While not interpreting the client’s work, our observation of line, form and color and media chosen gave clues for the interventions made during the therapeutic process. We are in agreement with Janie Rhyne’s (1973) statement, “The way we use lines, shapes and colors, in relationship to each other and to the space we put them in, indicates something about how we pattern our lives.” Additionally, the work of Emanuel Hammer (1958) has given us valuable information about possible meanings of line, form and color in his extensive work on projective drawings. Though fine diagnosticians and art therapists have seen
62
RHINEHART
AND
the inherent statements made by line, form and color, the focus of art therapy has remained a separation of content and process. We view our emphasis on line, form and color as a bridge which links these two. Within this seemingly simple mode of working lies a complexity of therapeutic information. Let us consider separately line, form and color to see some of what each may be conveying during an art process session. Line: Do the lines flow, or do they jerk across the page? What meaning does the client give to a particular line or series of lines? Are the lines jagged, broken, heavy, soft? Is the page large enough to hold all the lines, or does the client need a larger piece of paper to express what he is feeling? The following example will serve to illustrate how we use line as a therapeutic aid. A student, whose mind raced at such a pace that she couldn’t keep up with herself, always drew very, very fast lines. We asked her to slow the lines down, and worked with her until she began to feel a slower internal pace. She then spent several weeks at home drawing lines slowly as an exercise. The act of consciously slowing down on paper has helped her internal pace to slow down. Form: Do certain shapes and forms repeat themselves in a client’s work? Do they become larger or smaller or multiply as rendered? Does their placement on the paper change over time? Images can often hide the form, which may have a greater message for the client. For instance, a client consistently drew circles and a large flowing form coming out of the circles. The forms were circles and half-circles; the image given us by the client was, “this is a picture of a happy The forms of circles and half-circles dragon.” proved to be a far richer area for exploration than the “happy dragon” image. Forms consistently used in any series of images by a client can be a source of creative exploration for the art therapist, and may prove to be much more helpful than the image itself. Color: Does the client predominantly use a particular color? Does this color choice seem to fit the client’s emotional state? Is there a particular color or colors the client consistently avoids? What is the client’s meaning for the color being used? Is the meaning always the same? Beyond
ENGELHORN this, we can look at universal symbology of color to see if there is yet more information that may give us a clue to the meaning and movement of the color. We have often worked with clients who cannot make a clear color statement. Their color choices tend to blend into a muddy state. When we see color used in this manner, the client is usually confused and unclear about a present situation. We have found it therapeutic to ask the client to separate the colors. Simply by having the color used in a clearer way helps the client identify the confusion. CONCLUSION In this article we have only touched upon the discoveries we are making as we explore this method of line, form and color. It is a method that is teachable and can be modified for use by therapists who serve a variety of clients and patients in the therapeutic community. It is exciting for us to discover a way which includes the art in process as the continuing focus of therapy. This gives recognition to the inherent qualities for healing and growth contained in the art process itself as it becomes the mode for the pre-image considerations we have described here. The classic argument in art therapy has been based on the production or on the verbalization which follows the art production. As Elinor Ulman (1961) states, “Whatever its deficiencies, our two-word title (art therapy) at least indicates the two main trends in existing practice and theory: some art therapists put the emphasis on art and some on therapy.” In regard to Naumburg’s and Kramer’s work she goes on to state, “By Naumburg’s recent definitions, Kramer is an art teacher rather than an art therapist. Into Kramer’s ideological scheme, Naumburg fits as a psychotherapist.” For us neither of these stances is the issue, for we see both sides of the argument and honor both opinions. We agree with Kramer and her belief in the healing quality inherent in the creative process. We also agree with Naumburg and her belief in the images produced as constituting symbolic speech. Our work has led us to the point where we believe it isn’t a matter of art or therapy; it is a matter of integrating these two into one whole-art therapy. One of the important contributions Fritz Perls
PRE-IMAGE
CONSIDERATIONS
made in Gestalt Therapy was his concept of not overlooking the obvious. He placed great emphasis on the statements the client’s hand might be making as opposed to the person’s verbal messages. Not overlooking the obvious is the basis for our work of integrating art and therapy. We began to concentrate on those obvious elements which come before image-that is, line, form and color. The lines, the form, the coloreach are making important statements. As Fritz Perls asked people to exaggerate their hand movements, which helped authentic verbal statements to be made, we began to ask clients to repeat and exaggerate their statements of line, form and color on the page. Authentic unconscious verbal statements emerged in this way, with the added benefit of clients seeing and becoming conscious of these statements. Through the process of not overlooking the obvious, line, form and color emerged for us as a major overlooked bridge between art and therapy. REFERENCES FAGAN,
JOEN
& SHEPHERD,
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LEE,
Eds.
(1970)
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Gestalt Therapy Nmv. New York: Science and Behavior Books. HAMMER, EMANUEL F., Ed. (1958) The Clinical Applications of Projective Drawings. Springfield, Ill.: C. C. Thomas. HENZELL, JOHN (1978) Art and therapy. Inscape, Vol. 2, No. 2. The Journal of the British Association of Art Therapists. Printed by Rye Express at the Oval Heathcote Williams Grant Project. JUNG, C. G. (1973) “The Interpretations of Visions” (excerpts from the notes of Mary Foote), Spring 1960, 1961, 1962. New York: Spring Publications. JUNG, C. G. (1964) Man and His Symbols. New York: Doubleday. PERLS, FREDERICK S. (1969) Gestalt Therapy Verhatim. Lafayette, California: Real People Press. RHYNE, JANIE (1973) The Gestalt Art Experience. Monterey, CA: Brooks Cole. TUBY, MOLLY (1977) The healing power of symbols. Journa/forJungian Studies, No. 23. Printed by the Analytical Psychology Club, London. ULMAN, ELINOR (1961) Art therapy: Problems of defmition. Bulletin of Art Therapy, Vol. I, No. 2. ULMAN, ELINOR & DACHINGER, PENNY, Eds. (1975) Art Therapy in Theory and Practice. New York: Schocken Books. ULMAN, ELINOR, KRAMER, EDITH & KWIATKOWSKA, HANNA YAXA (1977) Art Therapy in the United States. Craftsbury Common, Vermont: Art Therapy Publications.