I’ve been reading Shaun McNiff’s newest book called “Art Heals: How Creativity Cures the Soul”.
It came into my life just when my soul needed healing! After our vacation was extended by two months because my husband ended up with a quadruple bypass while we were in the States, I returned to Norway rather exhausted.
Funny enough I had begun sketching again after many years – just a few minutes or so when I got a chance. My energy began to return and I found my mind clearing. More than that I felt a sense of nourishment and self-contact that I hadn’t felt for a long time.
Healing is a new word to use in connection with art making and I am curious about it. I begin to wonder if healing happens when a group of people make a drawing together as they often do in the workshops that I run. A lot of energy is certainly released and often laughter with it.
There is a lot of talk in Norway about how to reduce all the sick leave that seems to have taken over business. Could making art have an effect in this area? I have often wondered if the tough business environment we live in today leaves the soul thirsty and tired along with the body. Perhaps art making engages the imagination and brings some right brain bring into a left brain world.
I continue to watch my own process and read more in Art Heals.
originally written in 2004
