ATWB International Postcard Art Exchange Wraps Up

We’ve been busy receiving, reading, scanning, and posting postcards that have been arriving in our mailboxes since last week’s deadline for our International Postcard Art Exchange.  Participants signed up last fall and since then there’s been a postcard art frenzy from art therapists and art therapy students around the world!

Over 250 postcards were received by ATWB from 23 countries throughout the last six months.  It was great to see this collaborative project helping to provide connection and community about art therapy worldwide.

Visit the ATWB website to check out our slideshow featuring the postcards we received.  Postcards, blog postings, and comments about the project are also available to view on our Facebook page as well.  Thank you to everyone who participated!

If you are interested in future art collaborations happening within our communities, remember to stay connected to receive new announcements and updates!

See You at the Society for the Arts in Healthcare Annual Conference!

The Society for the Arts in Healthcare’s 22nd Annual International Conference, Advancing Patient-Centered Arts, hosted by Stanford Hospital and Clinics, will be held April 13-16, 2011 at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport in Burlingame, California. Hosted by Stanford Hospitals and Clinics, this conference will give attendees the opportunity to explore model arts in healthcare programs and built environments, gain strategies to successfully position arts programs in healthcare institutions, and develop leadership and professional skills to excel in the field. Arts in healthcare professionals, students, supporters, and all who want to learn more about the field are encouraged to attend.

We’re excited about our involvement at this dynamic conference in April. Art Therapy Without Borders is an exhibitor at the event, so if you are attending the conference, please be sure to stop by our table! We’ll have information on ATWB and how to get involved in our social networks and community—and even some of our famous “domino” pins on hand for purchase as a donation towards ATWB’s efforts. During the conference, Board Members Gretchen Miller and Cathy Malchiodi will be leading a panel on “Combat Paper Project: Helping Soldiers Use Papermaking to Reclaim and Reconstruct Their Lives,” from 2:00 pm to 3:30 on Friday, April 15^th. On Thursday, Cathy will be facilitating the lunch hour gathering for Medical Art Therapy from 11:30 am to 1 pm. Finally, on Saturday, April 16^th, from 10:30 am to 11:30 am, Cathy will be leading a Bring it Forward Session, “Exploring Best Practices & Collaborations That Use the Arts for Social Transformation to Resolve Conflict, Curb Violence & Create Community.” Art and social action is one of our core values at ATWB, so it is exciting to have a platform to interact with others who are passionate about this topic.

PS: Don’t forget that Cathy and Gretchen are presenting a day long course on Trauma Informed Art Therapy on Tuesday, April 12^th, 2011, at the Hyatt Hotel where the Society’s conference is being held. For more information and registration, visit our Events webpage here. You can also take a three-day workshop on PhotoTherapy with Judy Weiser on April 9^th thru the 11^th at the Hyatt Hotel; for more information, click here.

Don’t miss your opportunity to network and learn at the most comprehensive arts in healthcare event! Find a full schedule, registration information, and more here: http://www.thesah.org/template/page.cfm?page_id=184. ” Early bird registration ends on March 11^th, 2011, so make your plans soon—see you there!

Why Art Therapy Without Borders Exists

Like many of the 350 people involved in the Art Therapy Without Borders International Postcard Art Exchange, I am busy making art to send out to fellow artists around the world. My focus has been on creating images about some of the history of art therapy in the US and around the world that I have personally experienced. During this process I started to think, “how does Art Therapy Without Borders fit into this collective history?” But more importantly, another question rose to the surface– why does Art Therapy Without Borders exist?

Several years ago Matt Dunne, former director of AmeriCorps Vista and currently Manager of Community Affairs at Google, taught me one important thing about non-profit, service-oriented organizations– they must know why they exist. Organizations that exist only to pay staff salaries or the rent on office spaces soon lose their souls and cease to be alive, even though financially stable. So while creating a series of postcards like the one you see above, I thought about why ATWB is here and its reason for “being.” Here is what I wrote on the back of this postcard:

Art’s power to change lives, repair and restore is present all around the planet. Art has the potential to transform lives and often in profound ways. When words are not enough, we turn to images and symbols to tell our stories. And in telling our stories through art, we can find a path to healing, recovery and transformation.

Art therapy is larger than any one group or any one country’s history; you are part of the story of art therapy in how you use art to help others, each and every day. That is why Art Therapy Without Borders exists, to help those stories become part of the larger narrative of what we call “art therapy.”

While some see ATWB as a footnote, we would rather think of this community as a series of footprints that are marking out the journeys of so many like-minded individuals around the world. Those footprints play out every day on ATWB, Art Therapy Alliance and International Art Therapy Organization’s social media platforms; we have learned never to underestimate the power of the people to come together via a common belief that art is transformative and that art therapy is powerful force that changes lives.

So some of you who are part of this collective journey will be receiving one of these postcards in the coming weeks. And let me say in advance, thanks for being part of the story— and let’s use art to wake up the world!

Be well,

Cathy Malchiodi, President, ATWB

Planet Art Therapy Postmarks: The First 100 Postcards

Art Therapy Without Borders is excited to present this short 5 minute film Planet Art Therapy Postmarks featuring the first 100 postcards we have received for our International Postcard Art Exchange.  Enjoy!

Special ATWB E-news: Planet Art Therapy Keeps On Exchanging Postcard Art!

Planet Art Therapy: Postcard Art is Being Exchanged Everywhere!

This week in the US brings a time for thanks and gratitude with family & friends… As we gear up for this celebration, one of the many things we are thankful for includes the community, connection, and creativity that ATWB’s postcard art exchange is bringing to the international art therapy community.

We thank ATWB postcard art exchangers for being part of this project, sharing their art, stories, and work/studies….
We continue to be inspired, energized, and excited about postcards being made, sent, and received!

Check out a special ATWB e-news launched today to showcase all the postcard art and exchanging going on around Planet Art Therapy! Feel free to share with friends, colleagues, classmates, and others who might be interested!  Enjoy!

Revisioning Art Therapy History, One Postcard at a Time

My inspiration for the Art Therapy Without Borders International Postcard Art Exchange came from something my mother bought us to help us learn at school– flashcards. I remember learning to recite multiplication and division tables from those cards and ever since then, I have a visual memory of mathematics in the form of manila-colored cards in my head.

We all learn to recite answers to questions, no matter where our education takes us. In graduate school, soon-to-be art therapists are taught a certain set of historical and other facts that we pretty much start to accept as dogma eventually. So I started to think, just what would a set of art therapy flashcards look like? What are the “facts” that we have been taught to recite to our professors, for an exam, and to each other in order to feel that we are part of the group? But most of all, are these facts correct?

My first flashcard is one of several on Margaret Naumburg. When I was in graduate school studying art therapy I had to read Margaret Naumburg’s original works. In the US, we are generally taught that Naumburg is the “mother” of art therapy and the “creator” of art therapy as a profession. These are facts that we readily accept, as to if to anchor ourselves within a lineage of professionals who came before us and as a starting point for the existence of a profession.

Naumburg’s declaration that art therapy is a “profession” took place in the mid-20^th century. Meanwhile in the early 21^st century we are now questioning if there really is a profession called art therapist. In the US, “art therapist” is not listed as a separate job category in the Department of Labor. Even if it becomes a category, there are challenges to its acceptance. Art therapy degrees are being transformed into counseling degrees for the sake of licensure; is this marriage a good match or a way to keep art therapy education programs in tuitions when unlicensed graduates could not find employment? Naumburg created a profession for the most part by declaration, but does that declaration translate into something more than just an agreed upon “group-think” that there really is a profession called art therapist?

Finally, how does one become the key “creator” of anything? If someone is the first to declare something in writing does that make that person the creator of that premise? It’s easy to realize that Naumburg was not the only person talking the talk, but she was one of the first to get into print. It echoes an unspoken tradition in the field of art therapy that involves rushing to publish on a topic in order to “claim” it. In my humble opinion, that has resulted in a lot of half-baked books and has not really helped to establish a credible profession called “art therapist.” Not sure that is what Naumburg envisioned! I’ll get back to these questions later in future re-visioning.

More flashcards soon!

Cathy Malchiodi, November 17, 2010

ATWB International Postcard Art Exchange Week 2

Week 2 of ATWB’s International Postcard Art Exchange has brought more creative gifts and connection to the ATWB mailbox!  This week we received postcards from US states such as New York,  Chicago, Texas, Massachusetts, Florida, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio, and from Australia, Toronto, Nova Scotia, Italy and the UK.   It is wonderful to see the excitement and community of this global event continue to grow!

Some postcard art from Week 2!

ATWB is also excited to see participants blogging about their postcard art and experience.  Check out these posts:

Momo Photo– Postcards from Momo Grace, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Art Heals– Postcards from Susan Boyes, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Art is the Cure… Follow postcards here received by Rachel Howard, Belmont, CA, USA

Arttherapyit’s WebBlog– Postcards from Melania Cavalli, Milan, Italy

Carly Sullens– Postcard Art Preview, Orlando, FL, USA

The Procrastinartery– Project Update by Huyen MacMichael, Leeburg, Virginia, USA

Art Full Musings– Preview of Postcard Art and Process by Caterina Martinico, Northern CA, USA

Art Therapy Alliance: Postcards Around the Globe: International Art Therapy Community Gets Creative and Finds Connection

ATWB has also posted photos we’ve received this week on our Facebook page documenting batches of postcard art befo re they are mailed out to their new homes.  Don’t forget you can also follow all the postcard we receive here!

On ATWB’s end, we have been busy with our own postcard art making for the first 40 postcards we receive. Cathy is working on a special postcard art series entitled “Re-Visioning Art Therapy History, One Postcard at a Time” and Gretchen mailed out her first batch of postcard art this week.

Looking forward to what the mail brings next week!

ATWB Receives First Batch of Postcard Art!

Our International Postcard Art Exchange officially started on November 1 and we have already received several postcards from art therapists and art therapy students around the world who are participating in the exchange! The goal of this collaborative art project is for art therapists and art therapy students living all over the world to create, share, and receive postcard art, as well as create community through learning more about the art therapy work and studies taking place in different regions and parts of the globe. Over 350 participants from 30+ countries are involved in this exciting global event! Postcards from across the USA, as well as the UK, Australia, and Ireland came in this week. Check them out below!

To learn more information about each postcard, view our web album for this exchange on Facebook.

ATWB International Postcard Art Exchange November 2010-April 2011

Rachel Lozano, St. Louis, MO USA Art Therapy Graduate Student, Southern Illinois @ Edwardsville

Art Therapist Magdalena Karlick, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

Sarah Mulliner / Sheffield, UK Future Art Therapy Graduate Student (2011)

Rachel Nova- Belmont, California USA Art Therapy Graduate Student- Notre Dame de Namur

Melanie Glassey / Pennsylvania, USA Art Therapist in Private Practice

Art Therapist Kathy Schnur- Pontiac School System in Michigan, USA

Artist Scott Trevelyan- New South Wales, Australia

Louise Gartland Dublin, Ireland Art Psychotherapy Student at the Center for Psychotherapy in Belfast

Art Therapist Lindsay Wolf- Boulder, Colorado / USA

Art Therapist Lilliana Gibbs, East Sussex, UK

Art Therapist Barbara Bailey-Porter / Santa Cruz, CA, USA

Art Therapy Student Sarah Norman, Indianapolis, Indiana / USA

Rosine Abergel Ferber, PhD, MFT, ATR-BC, Palo Alto, California /USA

Bilingual Creative Arts Therapist, Nazarena Cordero Woodside, New York / USA

Art Therapy and Marriage & Family Therapy Student Ellen Padilla, Duncanville TX, USA

Art Therapy Graduate Student Jennifer Rozell, Seton Hill University, Greensburg, PA/USA

Momo Grace, Art Therapy Graduate Student, Southwestern College, Santa Fe, New Mexico USA

Leyla Akca, Art therapy graduate student at the School of Visual Arts, NYC, USA

Melania Cavalli, Milan, Italy, Art Therapist /Associazione Art Therapy Italiana

Liz Ward, Victoria, Australia- Art Therapy Graduate Student, Melbourne Institute for Experiential and Creative Art Therapy

Eileen McGann, ATR-BC, LCAT- Creative Arts Therapist, New York/USA.

Postcards are arriving daily!

Crossing Borders Together: ATWB International Postcard Art Exchange Begins

The interest for Art Therapy Without Borders’ International Postcard Art Exchange has been amazing! Our deadline for participating closed Friday, but we were pleased to see that word spread quickly across social networking sites and blogs to reach many in the international art therapy community.

Our exchange will include over 350 art therapists and art therapy students participating from Singapore, India, France, Scotland, Slovac Republic, Canada, Ireland, Australia, the UK, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, South Korea, Taiwan, Belgium, New Zealand, Malaysia, Hungary, Honduras, Chile, the United States, South Africa, Germany, Peru, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Indonesia, Jamaica, Portugal, and Hong Kong. How exciting is that?

During this six month global event, members from the ATWB, International Art Therapy Organization, and Art Therapy Alliance communities will be swapping postcard art with 20-25 art therapists and art therapy students living all over the world. On the back of everyone’s postcard art, participants will also be writing about their work as an art therapist/studies as an art therapy student where they live. This exchange will be a creative way to learn more about art therapy & the work of art therapists worldwide, as well as an opportunity to facilitate even more connection within our community!

You can follow postcards received by Art Therapy Without Borders via our Facebook page as they arrive in our mailbox from destinations around the world!

We look forward to crossing borders together through this exciting mail art collaboration!

ATWB Launches International Postcard Art Exchange

Join ATWB's Postcard Art Exchange!

Art Therapy Without Borders in partnership with The Art Therapy Alliance and International Art Therapy Organization, launched a new, global art event for the art therapy community this week.  Join us for our first International Postcard Art Exchange!!! The goal of our collaborative art project is for art therapists and art therapy students living all over the world to create, share, and receive postcard art, as well as create community through learning more about the art therapy work and studies taking place in different regions and parts of the globe.

In just a couple of hours, ATWB has already received over 30 requests to participate from art therapists and art therapy students from New Zealand, Italy, Chile, Greece, the UK, Honduras, Hungary, and the United States.

To learn more about the details of this exchange and how to sign up, visit the ATWB website.  Deadline to sign up is October 15, 2010!