Introduction
Why write a blog? Do I have something useful to say? Yes, I believe that my life experience and training have given me some insights and information that can be helpful for others. My area of interest is increasing personal awareness in all areas of life from learning how to make a new habit stick, becoming more creative, to handling that difficult co-worker. Here goes…
The Power of Visual Expression
in the Workplace
“Add colors and lines to create an image.” Each person in the group has completed a scribble and now can choose how to make that scribble into an image. Every time I led an art therapy group I was impressed by how the mood of the room changed during the session. At the beginning people seem distracted, bored, possibly depressed. There is minimal interaction. As if by magic, at some point during the time everyone works on his or her own pieces the mood shifts. The group becomes an entity, not a collection of individuals. Members look around and notice what neighbors are making. There are more interactions, “please pass the scissors”, or “are you going to use that color?” At the end, there is interest in what others have created and what they will say about their art piece and the work of others.
Recent studies on brain function shed light on the phenomenon that I witnessed countless times. According to Vija B. Lusebrink* most of the information that we gather through our senses is processed in the brain unconsciously and in parallel. In other words, what you see and what you hear are managed by different brain systems, at least initially. Later all the information is put together, but we become aware of only a fraction of this information. The value of art therapy is that it engages many of our perceptual brain systems, sight, touch, motor skills, even hearing, and smell. In turn, these also engage our memories. When one then talks about the experience and the art piece, many ways of knowing are active. We are firing on multiple cylinders at the same time. This provides a more robust way of learning, knowing, and problem solving.
I propose that this power can be used in the workplace as well as an art therapy group. As a culture, we rarely think of using graphic and visual methods of exploration and expression because we are familiar with reading, writing, and talking. Next time a team brainstorms about an issue or problem have some paper, pastels, oil pastels, crayons and markers available and encourage people to sketch their ideas. People can then share their visual expressions. My bet is that more creative ideas will flow.
*Lusebrink, V.B. PhD, ATR-BC, HLM (2004) Art Therapy and the Brain: An Attempt to Understand theUnderlying Processes of Art Expression in Therapy, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21:3, 125-135.
Recent studies on brain function shed light on the phenomenon that I witnessed countless times. According to Vija B. Lusebrink* most of the information that we gather through our senses is processed in the brain unconsciously and in parallel. In other words, what you see and what you hear are managed by different brain systems, at least initially. Later all the information is put together, but we become aware of only a fraction of this information. The value of art therapy is that it engages many of our perceptual brain systems, sight, touch, motor skills, even hearing, and smell. In turn, these also engage our memories. When one then talks about the experience and the art piece, many ways of knowing are active. We are firing on multiple cylinders at the same time. This provides a more robust way of learning, knowing, and problem solving.
I propose that this power can be used in the workplace as well as an art therapy group. As a culture, we rarely think of using graphic and visual methods of exploration and expression because we are familiar with reading, writing, and talking. Next time a team brainstorms about an issue or problem have some paper, pastels, oil pastels, crayons and markers available and encourage people to sketch their ideas. People can then share their visual expressions. My bet is that more creative ideas will flow.
*Lusebrink, V.B. PhD, ATR-BC, HLM (2004) Art Therapy and the Brain: An Attempt to Understand theUnderlying Processes of Art Expression in Therapy, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 21:3, 125-135.