During art residency in the municipal gallery of Afula, a peripheral city in Israel, the author who is an artist and an Art Therapist, painted citizens' contemporary and childhood portraits and documented their life story. Some meetings took place in the day care center for the elderly.
The exhibition at the municipal gallery delt with the influence of Covid-19. The day care social worker and the author organized two visits to the gallery. The author and her Art Therapy students led the sessions.
Two two-hours sessions were held.
Each session consisted of three stages:
1. A tour in the gallery where the participants shared their impressions.
2. An art activity in the gallery studio.
3. Sharing, based on their art works and the experience in the gallery.
The fact that the exhibition delt with the Covid 19 helped the participants to freely express themselves, relating to the pandemic and earlier traumas with their supportive group. The participants wanted to continue the process, and the students led seven weekly sessions at the day care center.
Creating art helped participants to be active and productive in relation to experiences in which they had been passive, helpless and lonely.
Participants shared their coping skills and experienced social interactions in a safe environment.
The innovation here is the setting of a gallery as a non-clinical space for encouraging expression, communication and growth at a time of crisis. This model can be applied with various populations and situations.

Authors:
Daphna Markman Zinemanas, Bar-Ilan University, Israel

---

Conference Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Post with LinkedIn

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Presentation

Share this...

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Linkedin

Posted by James Alexander Gordon

Last updated: 2023-02-23 23:45:00

All Posts