Open Studio Concept
Open Studio Concept
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On: 19 April 2014, At: 12:42
Publisher: Routledge
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To cite this article: Pat B. Allen PhD, A.T.R., LPAT (1995) Coyote Comes in from the Cold: The Evolution of
the Open Studio Concept, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 12:3, 161-166, DOI:
10.1080/07421656.1995.10759153
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Art Therapy: Journal of the Amerlcan Art Therapy Association. 12(3) pp. 161-166 8 AATA. Inc. 1995
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162 COYOTE COMES IN FROM THE COLD
field trips or just hanging around in the coffee room playing boundaries of the “patient-therapist” relationship was also shak-
Scrabble. The setting had limitations which precluded a “real” en. My identification with him help me to restore and reawaken
open studio. The church members who donated the space were a very important part of myself. He did far more for me than I
fastidious folks. No artwork could remain on the walls and our did for him.
presence had to be cleaned up before Sunday school each week. I didn’t write about this aspect of the process in 1983either.
The images of the kindly Jesus surrounded by children and holi- I also didn’t write about how making art together begins to blur
day theme posters were not to be disturbed. But even with such the boundaries between “staff’ and “patient.” In a studio session,
restrictions, members felt free to create, and so did I. a patient might just as likely have useful feedback for me as I
Gradually, as I learned more about therapy, I began to see would for him or her. I did realize that I couldn’t tolerate the
individuals, families, and groups in the outpatient mental health hierarchical roles that are the norm in an institution. It seemed
center of which the after care program was one small part. After easy for the nurses and doctors; for example, it is very clear who
some years of practicing art therapy in more conventional ways, prescribes medication, who hands it out, and who swallows it.
I returned to an open studio approach, this time by accident. I For me, blurring the boundaries felt vaguely dangerous, a viola-
was utterly spent trying to apply the principles of therapy I had tion of the cultural norms of the treatment setting. Iknew I
so painstakingly learned on a short-term psychiatric unit. I was couldn’t continue working in a hospital.
defeated by the limited length of stay and sterility of the setting, At this same institution, Ialso worked on an almholism
and I was bored by listening to shallow discussions of superficial treatment program (ATP) where it was necessary to create a very
imagery made by patients trying to do what was expected of structured approach to art therapy to complement the existing
them. I pretty much gave up and just began to make art during goal-oriented program (Allen, 1985). This was not my favorite
the art therapy time. I stopped cajoling patients out of bed or way of working. The main goal of the ATP was to break down
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away from n !To my surprise, interest in art therapy grew and patients’ resistance to recognizing their disease. This confronta-
some patients who had avoided the structured groups showed up tional approach was designed to shake the alcoholic patient out
and worked intently on self-initiated pieces. The atmosphere of his or her denial of life-threatening behavior. While I saw the
shifted and energy grew; for a while, something felt real and value of this approach, I was uncomfortable using art in this way.
right. I felt the time pressure of the brief 3 week length of stay, yet I
In reviewing a paper I wrote about this work (Allen, 1983), deeply feel the image has its own time that could not be accom-
where I first used the term “open studio,’’ I was surprised to real- modated in this approach. I fantasized about a studio space on
ize I did not mention the role my own artmaking played in the such a unit where, after the confrontational work of p u p and
brief resurgence of a studio atmosphere on the short-term psy- individual counseling, a patient could come and work at length,
chiatric unit. In fact, I remember vividly the piece I worked on painting his or her reactions and putting himself or herself back
when participation in my draw-and-talk groups dwindled to nil. together. There was no space for such a studio. The room where
It was a fairly large sculpture of a dragon made of newspaper and art therapy was held doubled as dining room, p u p room, staff
masking tape, eventually covered with plaster gauze. Iwould meeting room, and leisure space in the evening. Patient images
bring it upstairs to the office I shared with the occupational ther- remained up on the walls during all those activities, for better or
apy staff and work on it in odd, free moments between groups. worse.
After a while, as I entered the locked unit for my nonexistent To ground myself I created an art talk as part of the lecture
group, the evolving dragon, now recognizable, sparked interest series used to educate patients about the disease process. Nurses
among patients who began to come in and want to learn how to showed slides of cirrhotic livers in their lecture on physical
make sculptures of their own. That was one of my first glimmers effects; I showed slides of paintings by well-known artists who
that my own artmaking could have a motivating effect and per- grappled with issues of life and death, depression, faith, and rela-
haps be a valid part of the art therapy process. tionship. I tried to explain how artists use images to reconcile
Why didn’t I write about the role my art played as a catalyst inner and outer reality and how this process is accessible to any-
for patients? Instead, I tell about a goals group I co-led and how one. I also showed slides of my own work, which is fairly self-con-
that helped me to refocus my energies (p. 94). The goals group frontive. I tried to show that I used the process, that I wasn’t ask-
was a helpful interlude partly because it was collaborative, partly ing them to do something I wasn’t willing to do myself.
because it was very clear in structure and format. Also helpful, Why didn’t Iwrite more about these aspects of the art
but not as safe to write about, was my relationship with a patient process? I felt I was violating some art therapy taboos. If I am
around that same time. This young man was acutely psychotic making art during my art therapy job, am I stealing from my
when admitted. As his symptoms abated I learned he was also a employer?If by making art together with patients I am con-
trained and talented photographer. We spent many hours talking tributing to a breakdown of the tradition of professional distance,
about art and looking at his photographs, though he attended the am I harming the patient? Is showing slides of my art that are
studio group only once. Gradually I recognized that I had a pow- obviously intense, emotional, as well as artistically formed intim-
erful countertransference response to this man. He mirrored idating to the patients and inhibiting their ability to use the
back to me the wounded artist in myself. Once I gained that process?
insight, I experienced a surge of energy in my own artmaking, These are serious questions. Therapy principles rang in my
which I had neglected for quite a while feeling uninspired and head: the role of the therapist, the boundaries of the session,
having little free time. My relationship to the patient simmered appropriate self-disclosure. I certainly knew and had adhered to
down to collegial friendliness. When he was discharged, I felt the and respected these rules for some time. I taught these rules to
loss; he had taught me a great deal. My belief in the prescribed my graduate students. Iexperienced the validity of the con-
AWN 163
straintsof therapy myself as a client in psychotherapy; yet, as is decreased. The stringent rules of psychotherapy are necessary
time went on, these rules felt constricting, deadening, in fact to safeguard the client as well as the therapist from potent feel-
harmful to the art therapy process. I began to feel the paradox ings and wishes stirred by the intimacy and intensity of the
that much of what makes psychotherapy effective and safe makes process that can lead to exploitation and abuse of power in this
art therapy dead and lifeless. I began to seriously doubt this inherently unequal relationship. In 1988 I wrote:
hybrid, this marriage of art and therapy, to which I had been Art therapy has the potential to affect the balance of power in the
thoroughly dedicated. therapeutic relationshipin favor of the client if the focus is less on
the transference and more on the art. In other words, the client is
Struggling with Art Therapy empowered when his or her primaly relationshipis to the art rather
than to the therapist.... Transformed by the art process, through the
The next phase in the developmentof the studio idea was my discipline of adhering to the limitations and requirements of the
medium, the unconscious material can be experienced by the client
doctoral work. I set myself the tasks of looking at art therapy as it
while he or she maintains an adult’s sense of personal &gnity. (Allen,
had been practiced and documented in the literatum and of look- 1988, p. 118)
ing at artmaking as it is done by artists (Allen, 1986).I read artists’
accounts of artmaking and canied out a series of interviews using The next phase in the development of the studio concept
phenomenological methodology which sought to get at the occurred in collaboration with Deborah Gadiel, presently one of
essence of the art-making experience. My research question was, the codirectors of the Open Studio Project, but at that time a
What is the experience of making art? I wanted to find out the graduate art therapy student at The School of the Art Institute of
constituents,the necessary or universal aspects of this experience. Chicago, where I teach. Having found myself frustrated with the
By interviewing a range of artists, including some who are also art limitations of clinical positions, I was teaching and supervising art
therapists and doing a s m a l l amount of consulting and private
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synchronistically, this neighborhood has an art event every year ings covered with graffiti, a shelter for the many homeless
when studios and galleries are all open for four straight days, women in the area, as well as the homes of many poor and mid-
called “Around the Coyote.” It is also an area in the throes of dle-class families. Inside the space the walls are paint spattered,
gentri6cation. Who knows how long Coyote will hand around? and there are shelves piled with supplies and found materials.
Old factories are being turned into loft condominiums, and cof- The “office”is a tiny galley behind the studio space where a corn-
fee houses and trendy restaurants are springing UP. TWOblocks puter sits next to piles of artwork and extra supplies.
away are industrial buildings as well as restored mansions, build- The Open Studio Project (OSP) came into existence as the
answer to a question posed by us in early 1993:“How can we, as
artists, be of seMce to others?” Art therapy, as it has come to be
defined and practiced, did not seem to be the answer. At the
heart of this question is the wish for Eros, the wish to stay close
to the fire, in contact with the life force. We did not ask, “How
can we find time to make our own art while working as art ther-
apists?” While that may be a perfectly valid question, it was not
ours. Implicit in the phrasing of the question is the belief that our
first responsibility is to be aware of and tend to our own needs,
our personal fire. We believe that neglecting our own needs
diminishes our capacity to be of service. Each of us recognizes a
primary drive to know ourselves, others, and the world through
our image-making. Each of us works in our art in a way that
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A Few Things We Have Observed So Far: of physical relaxation. There is a comfort that authentic imagery
extends that says it's okay to be yourselfin this place. The images
Making art together breaks down barriers and boundaries themselves, as M c N S says, are medicine. The permission of
between people, creating compassion and empathy. This expression that they grant is enlivening.
happens most effectively when people are deeply During our pilot project in 1993, we were working in a
engaged in authentic images. It seems to be true that gallery space downtown which we transformed into a studio for
viewing the struggles of one another h u g h art causes a month. The space was located on the first floor of a building
shifts of perception on a deep level. This occurs not so that housed several graphic design firms as well as a talent
much in insights gained through discussion as in simple agency. One morning there was a casting call and parades of par-
witnessing. ents with cute children in tow stood outside our space waiting for
Our practice of making art alongside participants creates the elevator. Some peeked in, including one family who had
an energy that enables-all of us 6 take-risks L d push fur- Grandma along who was afraid of elevators and unable to climb
ther in our explorations as opposed to being an inhibiting the three flights of stairs. They came in and asked if Grandma
factor. This applies to both content and technique. could sit with us to pass the time while the mother took her little
Adopting the same simple materials used in art therapy, or girl upstairs for the audition. We agreed, and the older woman
in elementary school for that matter, such as tempera and settled down with her newspaper while we worked alongside a
acrylic paints, cray-pas, tape and foil, and found object group of adolescent boys from a group home. One was working
sculpture renders the image-making process accessible to on a large piece of kraft paper with charcoal, another was creat-
anyone. ing a pastoral landscape. As our visitor was clearly listening to my
Bypassing complex techniques, individuals move more conversation with one boy about standing back to really see his
easily into the realm of their own images. Remarkable 4' x 5' piece, I impulsively asked if she'd like to try, too. With
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elaboration and embellishments occur as individuals delight, she put down the unread newspaper and an hour later
"make special" (Dissanayake, 1995) objects that begin as her perplexed daughter found her gray-haired mother happily
castoffs and end up speaking for the soul. drawing away alongside a group of inner city boys whom she
Hanging our images in the space seems to cause people to might have crossed the street to avoid if she'd encountered them
relax and feel permission to express rather than fear their elsewhere. This is what we are after, creating a space where the
own content. paradox of the uniqueness of the individual and the universality
Given the space, materials, time, and example, anyone can of our humanness can be lightly held, shared, understood, and
use the artmaking process to contact and tap into his or celebrated, where Coyote can come in from the cold.
her own inner source of creativity and wisdom.
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty and frightened
The process works especially well if the group is diverse.
Don't open the door to the study and begin reading
The energy of too homogeneous a group tends to be less Take down a musical instrument.
lively, regardless of whether it is a group of all mental
patients, all art therapists, all women, all adults, and so Let the beauty we love be what we do.
forth. There are a hundred ways to kneel
and kiss the ground.
Conclusion Rumi