A Product of my School?

My presentation in two weeks is about art therapists in the art community, and how it is important as art therapists to keep making art for real and not just superficially, and how important it is not to "clinify" artwork, etc.  Its going to be an exciting paper for me because I think I really agree with it.

Funny thing, all of my sources are from people who teach or have taught at my school (or grad students' theses from the school).  It's no surprise, since this school - of all of the schools I applied to - puts the most emphasis on creating art as a student and an art therapist (one of the reasons why I liked this program so much).  Other schools, students are not required to take studios, they are recommended but not required - at least that was my opinion.  Taking the art classes was important to me, as was making art in class.

Also, my internship is in an organization where my job will be to help members make art, and maybe I will meet individually but it's not a clinical setting.  It's basically exactly what I want, at least from what I know of my options now!

I do tend to clinify the art we make in my role play sessions in classes, because that's all I can think of to do.  It's hard in the role play to just make art together and allow the therapy to happen the way these authors propose it should happen in art therapy, because the role plays really are only 20 minutes long or less.  These processes seem to take a lot longer, require more contact with the clients than twenty minutes, and also require the art therapist to make art as a model.

I will write more about this as I think of it ... this was a perfect research topic, I think!  Also, I am getting ideas relating to the Jewish art summer program for teens I was an intern at a year and a half ago, if not things they would be directly interested in doing then something to consider for the future for myself...