Technique(s) • 165A Journal can be kept in color and line as well as in words, as in a Doodle Diary.
Relationships can be depicted in three dimensions, as in a Family Sculpture. And because you
can move three-dimensional forms in space, their dramatized action can further enhance
awareness. There is probably no limit to what can be explored and expressed through the
rich, wordless medium of art.
And there is similarly no limit to what can be imagined as an approach to helping people
through art by the therapist. The source of artistic technique, as noted earlier, is for the art
therapist to have digested and assimilated a theory so well that she is then able to respond
with disciplined spontaneity. Similarly, the more media and technique(s) she knows about,
the greater the menu from which she can choose, as she seeks to provide the most nourish-
ing and most digestible treatment for those she serves.
Deciding how to go about either assessing or treating through art requires a thorough
familiarity with artistic resources, as well as with ways of understanding and helping people
in pain. The specific fashion in which any art therapist puts them together is the artistry of
this work, a source of deep pleasure and continual satisfaction.
Robert Ault cited a metaphoric image of an “ice skater ... one skate representing art
understanding and involvement, the other ... representing psychological understanding as
well as interpersonal skills.”^6 In order to get anywhere, you have to shift your weight from
one to the other, sometimes pushing off with one and sometimes gliding with both. As Bob
wrote, “the skill of the therapist is in the timing, and knowing when to use one or both.”
I have often thought of sailing as a good metaphor for doing art therapy, since the clini-
cian needs to “catch the wind” when it comes up, often with little notice. There may be long
periods of waiting for wind and tides to shift, so that the course of the art therapy voyage
can be a safe one. It takes alertness to sense when the patient is ready to move in a new
direction—whether in the creative process or in self-understanding.
An art therapist tunes in to multiple frequencies for evidence of readiness to go deeper:
artwork, dreams, mood, attitude, and behavior in and out of the sessions. As is true when
sailing, there are inevitably rough as well as smooth periods, during which the therapist
must hold firm to the rudder, in order to keep the boat of treatment as steady as possible.
Whether the art therapist is seeing an individual, a couple, a family, or a group, whether
the goal is assessment or treatment, whatever the age and wherever the setting, the creative
challenge of this work consists in deciding what to offer and how to do it. The artistry of the
work lies in helping people to become engaged in the creative process in ways that enhance
their personal growth.
A good art therapist is selective and sensitive, trying to accomplish the goals of any par-
ticular intervention within whatever constraints are present. This may involve using one
or another technical approach, but always doing so with the deepest respect for both the
materials and the human being(s) involved. Effective and thoughtful art therapy is at least
as much an art as it is a science. As in other art forms, only practice can help the practitioner
to develop both skill and spontaneity.
As with knowing theory, well-developed technique is not so much a collection of ideas,
as it is deeply ingrained and easily available. Elinor Ulman made this point when she wrote
that “a little learning may be worse than none. Our understanding must be well digested if
it is to inform lightning decisions” (Ulman & Dachinger, 1975, p. 28). A good art therapist,
like the gifted and creative psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott (1971a, 1971b), has both theory
and technique “in her bones.”