{"id":205,"date":"2014-02-12T23:22:49","date_gmt":"2014-02-12T23:22:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/?p=205"},"modified":"2019-01-13T00:01:15","modified_gmt":"2019-01-13T00:01:15","slug":"making-art-for-sale-or-for-art-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/2014\/02\/12\/making-art-for-sale-or-for-art-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Art for Sale Or For Art Therapy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Art therapy is different from making\nart to sale. The intention in art therapy is to make a piece that\nrepresents the inner world of a client. Making art to sale is making\na piece that is appealing to another person so that the person would\nlike to buy it. At times, these two ideas are at odds. At other\ntimes, there is an intersection and it can be beneficial to an art\ntherapy program. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one of my internships, we were\ndirected, at certain times of the year, to get the clients to make\nitems to sale in the lobby of the hospital. This was a way for the\nprogram to raise funds for outings to benefit the group members. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my experience of selling artwork\nwhen clients are involved, most of it has caused harm to the clients.\nIn doing my internship, I saw three incidents that were concerning.\nAlso, in my own practice, I saw one incident that stood out in regard\nto selling artwork. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the experiences I had at the\ninternship was a group who refused to attend sessions after a sale\nthat benefited the program. The program would raise funds for better\nsocializing amongst the group participants. This particular\nparticipant had planned out and organized the group to make coin\nbanks. I also made one although I was disinterested. I didn’t feel\nlike I could say no at the time. At the sale, the coin banks didn’t\nsell. The group member was devastated and didn’t return to the group\nfor a few months. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knowing this now, I would prepare my\nclients for frustration and setbacks. There would be at least one\nsession dedicated to what to do if their artwork didn’t sell– and\nthat we could process the feelings of that one might feel in such a\nsituation. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The supervisor at this internship\nplacement would make comment that the self-esteem of the participants\nwould be uplifted if an item sold. \u201cImagine that a woman buys the\nscarf. Our group member will have such a wonderful feeling….\nimagine that a man buys the scarf for a wife or girlfriend; this\nempowers our group member to know that he did something to improve\nsomeone’s relationship, considering that he has issues with\nsocializing himself.\u201d She did a sort of waltz around the room and\nsaid this in a distant singing voice. I felt that she was jumping to\ntoo many conclusions for my tastes, especially with the group members\ninvolved in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A similar situation happened in private\npractice. A client put some artwork up in a gallery that had an open\ncall for artwork and everything would be accepted. He hadn’t talked\nto me directly about his expectations of the show but he ended up\nhaving high expectations. He was upset that his artwork didn’t sell.\nHowever, we were able to talk about this afterward and it seemed like\nhe was able to see the situation in a different light. Since the\ngallery was not connected to me or the group practice, he was able to\nattend sessions, without embarrassment and turned it into a\nproductive therapy session in processing his feelings. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another incident at the internship,\na woman started hustling for money at the sale. Being an intern, this\nput me in an awkward position. I didn’t have the confidence or\nknow-how to speak up. The issue was turned over to the director of\nthe program and she was able to delicately address the situation. It\nwas a matter of saying that the group participant could ask for\ndonations if she saw someone she knew and the person didn’t find\nanything they wanted at the sale. Having a sale brought this woman\nback to a habit that was unhealthy for her and had to be guided in a\nbetter way. For me, I would rather have avoided the whole situation,\nunless I could speak to her privately before such a show to see if\nshe was ready to attend a sale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third issue is more of an overall\nobservation. Creating art to sale took away from the group’s\ntherapeutic process. Interns were encouraged to get clients to make\nart for sale. To be fair, some of these clients might not have had an\nidea ready when the session began but that’s up to the person to\nproblem solve; not for interns to recommend and nearly force a client\nto make a piece of artwork to sale. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Making artwork for sale takes away many\nof the therapeutic values of it. It takes away the ugliness of\nchange. It takes away the intention to make a piece that is truly\nrepresentative of the person’s feelings. It puts value on the\nartwork, which the person might connect with their own self-worth.\nCreating art in art therapy is an opportunity for a client to\nrepresent what’s inside and that isn’t always going to make a good\npiece for someone’s wall. \n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Art therapy is different from making art to sale. The intention in art therapy is to make a piece that represents the inner world of a client. Making art to sale is making a piece that is appealing to another person so that the person would like to buy it. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[44,15,14,47,27,45,51,49,48,46,19,18,16,20,21,50,24],"class_list":["post-205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art-for-sale","tag-art-therapist","tag-art-therapy","tag-artwork","tag-connecticut-art-therapy","tag-hustling","tag-internship","tag-lets-not-do-this-again","tag-lets-not-meet-again","tag-regression","tag-stamford-counseling","tag-stamford-counselor","tag-stamford-ct","tag-stamford-therapist","tag-stamford-therapy","tag-supervision","tag-wellness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205\/revisions\/208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lovescounseling.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}