The Basics • 71liked easel painting, because there was so much activity in that corner when she led the
group. Yet when the same children were taught by a woman whose interest was in modeling,
there was a preponderance of clay work.
In a similar fashion, an individual art therapist’s enthusiasm for a particular medium or
process is likely to stimulate interest in it for those with whom she works. In after-school
workshop groups at a child study center, I used to call this the Pied Piper Effect. If I wanted
to get the youngsters to try any art activity, all I needed to do was to start doing it myself.
They would usually come, look, and eventually become engaged.
As for media offerings, my own preference has been for a broad selection under most
circumstances. This approach seems sensible to me, because I sincerely believe that any indi-
vidual does best with materials that allow him or her to feel as comfortable as possible. I
also trust, because of my experience with many different populations, that even those with
poor ego boundaries tend to choose materials they can control. However, I know myself well
enough to be aware that my need for people to have choices is not limited to my work in art
therapy, but extends throughout my life, from menus to maps. So, like most, I have managed
to justify making materials available to people in a way that is syntonic with my personality.
The processes of working with art materials are as varied as the media themselves. Art
therapists, regardless of individual predilections, are familiar with a wide range of materi-
als, tools, and ways of working. Most practitioners draw upon an extensive awareness of
many different possibilities for creative work. The range of what can be used and how is
limited only by the knowledge and creativity of the individual clinician.
Keeping Up with New Media Since the definition of art is continually expanding, offerings
in art therapy are too. For example, recent technological developments have tremendous
potential for all kinds of creative work. Because I cannot sit comfortably in a desk chair
since having back surgery in 1989, the laptop computer on which I wrote and revised this
book allowed me to type while sitting in a recliner. I used the same kind of arrangement to
create the video clips on the DVD that is in the back of the book.
For me, a notebook computer is not only a welcome convenience; it actually makes contin-
ued creative work possible. For those who are severely disabled, a computer can be a critical
prosthesis, which can be used to create pictorial images as well as words. For anyone wanting
to animate artwork, the computer offers an exciting avenue. Art therapists are just beginning
to plumb the possibilities of this technology as part of their work (Malchiodi, 2000).
New art materials and tools are continually being developed. These can be especially
useful for particular expressive needs. Tempera markers (D), for example, are perfect when
a person wants to pound aggressively with paint, or to use paint in settings where there is a
need to minimize the mess. The right materials can make possible the successful expression
of visual ideas. Staying informed about these is as important as keeping up with professional
literature, since knowing new media is as critical to doing art therapy as knowing new drugs
is to practicing medicine.
Understanding/Analyzing Materials In 1978 two art therapists proposed a way of under-
standing and of classifying both materials and processes. The Expressive Therapies
Continuum was the product of collaboration between Vija Lusebrink (E) and Sandra Kagin
Graves (F). It is based on Kagin’s earlier work, in which she defined “media dimensions
variables.” The system itself is not used by everyone. But the kind of thinking it embodies—
about the nature and properties of work with materials—is part of any competent art thera-
pist’s decision-making process (Lusebrink, 1990; Hinz, 2009).