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The Good Enough Studio: Art Therapy Through the Prism of Space, Matter, and Action
Organize your space in the best way to achieve therapeutic significance.
“The good enough studio”—derived from D.W. Winnicott’s notion of the good enough mother—serves as a safe space where clients, students, and artists find modes of expression and being that unveil their own authenticity and connection to the archaic creativity of humanity.
As a global art therapist and educator, Nona Orbach facilitates this profound alchemy of self-transformation by attending to the nonverbal, intuitive choreography that each individual uses in order to create.
In Orbach’s groundbreaking therapeutic model, the consciously organized studio is a place of acceptance where actions, materials, and the space itself “speak” and guide discovery.In this book readers will learn how Organize an open-studio setting Create an environment of acceptance and choice that facilitates transformation Understand action-material relationships as emotional and pedagogical communication Discern and mirror each individual’s creative blueprint The insights of The Good Enough Studio will cultivate the work of those interested in the phenomenology of artists, educators, therapists, and parents, as well as the nonprofessional and curious reader. Through guidance and case studies, Orbach shows how the creator’s poetic truth can lead to integration and well-being.
Nona Orbach is a multidisciplinary artist, therapist, blogger, lecturer, and facilitator of workshops for art therapists in Israel and around the world. Her artwork engages with archeological and historical contexts and is compiled under the title Tel-Nona. As an excavator in the Tel (mound) and preserver of the artifacts in a blog/virtual library, Nona metaphorically revives the great Alexandrian library that burnt down with its million scrolls in the first century BCE. Tel-Nona preserves its spirit of sharing knowledge in an international humanistic project.
She also leads a social movement to change the Israeli education system through the learning and understanding afforded by the studio and the language of materials. Her online learning community includes over 7,000 participants from the fields of education and therapy. She has created an English blog and a study group with the title of this book to circulate her ideas internationally.
Her previous book, The Spirit of Matter, co-authored with Lilach Gelkin, has been an immensely useful tool for therapists and educators for many years. Published in Israel in 1977, the PDF English version of the book is sold on her website.
“The good enough studio”—derived from D.W. Winnicott’s notion of the good enough mother—serves as a safe space where clients, students, and artists find modes of expression and being that unveil their own authenticity and connection to the archaic creativity of humanity.
As a global art therapist and educator, Nona Orbach facilitates this profound alchemy of self-transformation by attending to the nonverbal, intuitive choreography that each individual uses in order to create.
In Orbach’s groundbreaking therapeutic model, the consciously organized studio is a place of acceptance where actions, materials, and the space itself “speak” and guide discovery.In this book readers will learn how Organize an open-studio setting Create an environment of acceptance and choice that facilitates transformation Understand action-material relationships as emotional and pedagogical communication Discern and mirror each individual’s creative blueprint The insights of The Good Enough Studio will cultivate the work of those interested in the phenomenology of artists, educators, therapists, and parents, as well as the nonprofessional and curious reader. Through guidance and case studies, Orbach shows how the creator’s poetic truth can lead to integration and well-being.
Nona Orbach is a multidisciplinary artist, therapist, blogger, lecturer, and facilitator of workshops for art therapists in Israel and around the world. Her artwork engages with archeological and historical contexts and is compiled under the title Tel-Nona. As an excavator in the Tel (mound) and preserver of the artifacts in a blog/virtual library, Nona metaphorically revives the great Alexandrian library that burnt down with its million scrolls in the first century BCE. Tel-Nona preserves its spirit of sharing knowledge in an international humanistic project.
She also leads a social movement to change the Israeli education system through the learning and understanding afforded by the studio and the language of materials. Her online learning community includes over 7,000 participants from the fields of education and therapy. She has created an English blog and a study group with the title of this book to circulate her ideas internationally.
Her previous book, The Spirit of Matter, co-authored with Lilach Gelkin, has been an immensely useful tool for therapists and educators for many years. Published in Israel in 1977, the PDF English version of the book is sold on her website.
- GenresArt
156 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 6, 2020
47 people are currently reading
42 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 5, 2023
Great for (Aspiring) Art Therapists, Art Teachers, Art Facilitators.
I especially enjoyed the parts about Alchemy, Materials, and Mental Health. The examples and metaphors were great! It was refreshing to see this perspective and side of Art.
Other topics I enjoyed from this book:
• Creating Art for Art's Sake
• Art as Therapy VS Art Therapy
• Art Teacher VS Art Therapist
• Studio Space Organization
• Case Studies
• Carl Jung References
—Will be referencing this title again, as this career path intrigues me.
I especially enjoyed the parts about Alchemy, Materials, and Mental Health. The examples and metaphors were great! It was refreshing to see this perspective and side of Art.
Other topics I enjoyed from this book:
• Creating Art for Art's Sake
• Art as Therapy VS Art Therapy
• Art Teacher VS Art Therapist
• Studio Space Organization
• Case Studies
• Carl Jung References
—Will be referencing this title again, as this career path intrigues me.
October 7, 2020
‘Exploring our archaic roots as they connect to our lives today’
Israeli author Nona Orbach is an art therapist, an artist, and an art educator – and a facilitator of workshops for art therapists, both in Israel and globally. As she states on her beautifully designed website, ‘I practice three professions that interlink and influence one another. I am an art therapist, an art educator, and an artist. The common thread that links the three is my fascination with the way in which medium resonates through our spiritual and emotional essence as part of the creative therapeutic or educational processes. I have developed educational and therapeutic methods to broaden authentic creativeness for practically anyone who attempts to express his world using materials in a studio designed for this purpose. Moreover, coming from a Mediterranean and Israeli background and teaching often in Japan, and Italy, I am attuned and interested in different backgrounds. I am always curious to witness how my methods are universal, and thus are fruitful in others living in another part of the world…’ In addition to THE GOOD ENOUGH STUDIO Nona has co-authored THE SPIRIT OF MATTER.
This book is one that encourages repeated readings, so rich in fascinating concepts and exercises that continue to challenge the mind and view of creativity and life in general each time the book is opened. The exploration of materials and medium is explored in Nona’s studio ‘classes’ where the ideas and contributions from children through all ages opens windows into considering all manner of perceptions and connections. Comparing a child’s drawing of a dove and eagle with a prehistoric cave drawing of a weasel and finding the connect in time and simplicity of communication through expression is just one example of how inspiring this book becomes.
As the author shares, ‘I will highlight the profound connections between the different choices of materials and the physical acts of the artist’s body as manifestations of a metaphorical, alchemical process the soul goes through. We will see time and again how the body somehow identifies its required path and transforms materials into the deep inner truth of the creator. We will perceive how the choreography and reciprocity of art making has a precise metaphor and poetic truth in our life that, when permitted to be, and when recognized, can be freeing and help us to flourish.’
Eloquent, elegant, and enriching, this is a book that deserves a very broad audience, not only of artists and art therapists, but for all of us who wish to gaze into the significance of being. Highly Recommended.
Israeli author Nona Orbach is an art therapist, an artist, and an art educator – and a facilitator of workshops for art therapists, both in Israel and globally. As she states on her beautifully designed website, ‘I practice three professions that interlink and influence one another. I am an art therapist, an art educator, and an artist. The common thread that links the three is my fascination with the way in which medium resonates through our spiritual and emotional essence as part of the creative therapeutic or educational processes. I have developed educational and therapeutic methods to broaden authentic creativeness for practically anyone who attempts to express his world using materials in a studio designed for this purpose. Moreover, coming from a Mediterranean and Israeli background and teaching often in Japan, and Italy, I am attuned and interested in different backgrounds. I am always curious to witness how my methods are universal, and thus are fruitful in others living in another part of the world…’ In addition to THE GOOD ENOUGH STUDIO Nona has co-authored THE SPIRIT OF MATTER.
This book is one that encourages repeated readings, so rich in fascinating concepts and exercises that continue to challenge the mind and view of creativity and life in general each time the book is opened. The exploration of materials and medium is explored in Nona’s studio ‘classes’ where the ideas and contributions from children through all ages opens windows into considering all manner of perceptions and connections. Comparing a child’s drawing of a dove and eagle with a prehistoric cave drawing of a weasel and finding the connect in time and simplicity of communication through expression is just one example of how inspiring this book becomes.
As the author shares, ‘I will highlight the profound connections between the different choices of materials and the physical acts of the artist’s body as manifestations of a metaphorical, alchemical process the soul goes through. We will see time and again how the body somehow identifies its required path and transforms materials into the deep inner truth of the creator. We will perceive how the choreography and reciprocity of art making has a precise metaphor and poetic truth in our life that, when permitted to be, and when recognized, can be freeing and help us to flourish.’
Eloquent, elegant, and enriching, this is a book that deserves a very broad audience, not only of artists and art therapists, but for all of us who wish to gaze into the significance of being. Highly Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews