74 • Introduction to Art Therapy
of both. Edith Zierer sometimes had students view patient art upside down, so they could
focus on the formal element of “color integration” undistracted by either content or com-
petence. Rita Simon’s (1992, 1997, 2005) approach to art therapy emphasized style. And in
Janie Rhyne’s (1995) “personal construct drawings,” the form itself became the content of
the communication.
The subject matter is significant too, and like the manifest content of a dream, may be
disguised. Understanding the nature of metaphor and symbolic expression is, therefore,
critical to any translation of artistic meaning. A literate understanding of the language of
both form and content is vital to an art therapist’s functioning. The complex intertwining
of these two variables constitutes the grammar of art, which must be mastered by art thera-
pists in order to develop visual literacy in their work.
Clinically sophisticated vision can decipher artistic information about development,
about psychodynamics, and about psychopathology. Art therapists learn to “listen” to
what art products have to “say.” While there are many different ways to look at or to
think about art, doing so sensitively and coherently is central to conducting effective
art therapy.
Understanding the art part of art therapy, then, involves knowing a great deal about
materials, the creative process, and artistic products. As with media and processes, most
art therapists are highly respectful of the products created therein. Whether and where they
are displayed or stored depends on many variables (cf. Spaniol, 1990), but they are always
handled by art therapists with the utmost care. Since artistic products are also statements by
the individual—whether garbled or articulate—they are treated with the same confidential-
ity accorded verbal communication.
The Therapy Part
Knowing Development
The second major component of art therapy is the therapy part. Whatever preferred theo-
retical orientation they eventually adopt, all art therapists have some basic frame of refer-
ence about human psychology. They need to have a clear picture of normal development, in
order to identify deviations therefrom. In addition to knowing something about cognitive,
emotional, and social growth, art therapists are familiar with normal development in art.
Art therapists are also informed about a variety of developmental perspectives, so they can
selectively choose and/or synthesize their own.
There have been a great many studies of late, often using advanced imaging techniques,
and especially in the area of attachment and neurobiology (Siegel, 1999). The hopeful part of
this is that it looks like there is a good neurological reason why therapy works (Solomon &
Siegel, 2003) and particularly why nonverbal therapy is effective (Arrington, 2007).
Knowing Psychodynamics
In a similar fashion, art therapists understand psychodynamics, both within and between
individuals. Whether they are partial to a conflict or a deficit theory of psychopathology, art
therapists are familiar with both ways of thinking. Art therapists are also knowledgeable
about different understandings of both intrapsychic (Freud, 1916–1917, 1923) and interper-
sonal dynamics. The latter includes dyadic (two-person), triadic (three-person), and group
(Yalom & Leszcz, 2005).