How Art Heals: Exploring Your Deep Feelings Using Collage

by Andra F Stanton, Tien Chiu (Foreword)

Use this compassionate guide to access your deepest emotions, express them through art, and transform them into tools for healing and understanding. Former psychotherapist turned artist Andy Stanton offers guided meditations, imagery techniques, and collage prompts to open a safe space for not only grief and brokenheartedness, but celebration and thankfulness. First, follow relaxation and imagery techniques to access your feelings; next, use the simple guidelines for making collage art. Inspiring us by example, dozens of contemporary artists offer photographs of their most personally transformative artworks and share heartfelt stories about how those pieces helped them alleviate their difficult emotions. Focusing on the emotional-artistic process rather than specific skill, Stanton offers lessons for artists of all experience levels and mediums. An exclusive online bonus feature offers dozens more artworks and stories.

Genres: Art

208 pages, Paperback

Published May 25, 2021

Reviews

[Marty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note! This book would have been better marketed as is a beautiful collection of art and artist’s healing stories, these are raw and powerful. This I want the four stars is for.

But it is it not really what the subtitle suggests “exploring your deep feelings using collage”. It includes two guided imagery exercises (nearly impossible to do simply by reading and trying to enact on one’s on). And no real effort is made to bring the reader into a real collage exercise, no collage examples.

Unfortunately the art presented as “healing” doesn’t include collage! So, a bit of a disconnect.

[Sacha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this, but when I bought it I expected a bit more 'theory' on using collage for healing. Most of the book consisted of works from different artists and their stories on how they used art for healing, which I found very interesting, but was not really what I was looking for when getting this book. A bit more of the 'theory' part would have been nice!