The Art of Feelings
Can Art Help us Integrate Our Emotions?
The Latin roots of the word emotion are e (out) + movere (move). In an ideal world, emotions create feelings that flow naturally. However, they often get “sticky”.
Using our feelings as a starting point for art making can be very useful in allowing us to integrate our emotions and not be captured by them.
The renowned Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, had such a wonderful analogy about feelings. He called it the river of feelings. Every drop of water is a different feeling and each feeling relies on all the others for its existence. And as water flows, so do various emotions come and go.
We can more or less divide our feelings into pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. When we have an unpleasant feeling we may want to chase it away. However, when we take that sense and create a mark, image or shape related to that feeling it comes out of our head and onto the paper. We can then observe it more objectively.
Corporate Art Workshop and Team Building through Creativity
In my recent corporate workshop we created many shapes of anger and many versions of calmness. I then asked the participants to create an abstract composition combining those two different shapes. In this way there was a sense that various emotions are not static but integrated into our larger Human Experience. Sharing this experience with their team mates created a bonding moment, so valuable in the workplace.
TEAM BUILDING
Shared Art Experience based on Feelings!
A Creative Idea to Process Intense Emotions Through Art
When a strong emotion takes over, take out pen and paper or pencil and just draw the shape of that emotion. Maybe cut it up, tear it up, draw patterns on it or color it. In this way it isn’t owning you, you are transforming it into something fluid. Take a moment and close your eyes and breathe into that feeling state. Did something move or transform? Try it out!
“I’ve had the pleasure of attending two of Kathy’s creative workshops. What differentiates Kathy is that she is able to get people to be mindful about how they create the “art”. This is not a “paint by numbers” workshop or where she gives instructions so everyone is able to make the same copy of a masterpiece. Instead, she guides people through exercises that help them to express what is going on inside. In addition, she is able to craft projects in a way that requires group effort. There are moments of feeling uncomfortable, possessive and then “letting go”....all of which promotes self and team growth.”