Mending Is Active, Participatory, and Slow (La réparation est active, participative et longue)

Academic writing is relevant when it reflects the practice’s current social, clinical, and educational realities, strengths, and challenges. The current issue of the Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal is inspired by the theme of the association’s 39th annual conference Art Therapy: Mending what is broken between us that took place in the fall of 2018 in Montreal. Within our current divided international political environment, the concept of mending is pertinent (Toll, 2017). As art therapists who tend to carefully contemplate the symbolism and metaphor behind our decisions, Montreal was an important location for this themed conference. Described by the conference chair, Rachel Chainey (2018):

Montreal, Tiohtià:ke in Mohawk, the language of the traditional inhabitants of this colonized land, means broken in two, after the place where the St. Lawrence River separates around the island now known as Montreal. Throughout its history, this island has served as a place of meeting between many Indigenous and settler peoples. As the bustling place of intercultural exchanges it continues to be today, it seems like an ideal place to explore the myriad ways in which art therapy, and more broadly the creative art therapies, are a bridging ground to work together at mending what is broken within and between individuals, families, communities, and ideologies, in a world that is becoming increasingly polarized. (p. 2)

A theme that acknowledges the need for mending brokenness recognizes the substantial amount of work to be done in the field. “Mending is a dynamic and sensory verb that evokes a careful and intentional process” (Toll, 2018, p. 3). The theme describes the intention to repair and respect differences among diverse individuals, peoples, professionals, languages, and practice and academic research methodologies. Thus, art therapy can be practiced within and beyond a clinical office and studio to the natural environment, as described by Whitaker & Riccardi (2018) as “Art therapy out of bounds/Art-thérapie hors limites” (n.p.). The conference theme includes the word us as active participants and describes valuing multiple coexisting realities. Nonetheless, we as art therapists can often prick our own fingers in the process of mending.

Within the emerging esthetic intersubjective paradigm of arts-based research and art therapy (Chilton, Gerber, & Scotti, 2015), the intersubjective and pluralist ontology component (Johnson, 2012) describes valuing each individual experience and perspective. In addition, reality is co-created between the experienced differences of multiple paradigms. Therefore the pluralist dialectical metaparadigm takes on a “pluralist stance ontologically (there are many kinds of reality that are important, such as subjective, objective, intersubjective, disciplinary, paradigmatic) and relies on a dialectical (and dialogical and hermeneutical) approach to learning from difference” (Johnson, 2012, p. 752; Johnson & Gray, 2010).

As a transdisciplinary field born from arts and psychotherapy, art therapy is also informed by psychoanalysis, humanities, fine arts, Indigenous knowledge, psychology, neurobiology, community practices, semiotics, and anthropology, among others (Chilton et al., 2015). Thus, multiple distinctive realities simultaneously coexist with one another, similar to how an artwork can have different and evolving meanings at one time. Keynote speakers, Whitaker & Riccardi (2018) “applaud a world of entangled influences” (n.p.) An artwork is a living and changing experience, and so are our realities (Dewey, 1934). As art therapists and researchers, we may seek to understand the many truths that exist for the purpose of healing, insight, knowledge, and growth.

Mending divisions and brokenness

The Oxford Living Dictionary provides various meanings for the word mending, as a shortened version of amend. According to this dictionary, the term can mean to “repair,” to “return to health,” to “improve,” or to “add fuel to (a fire)” (Mend [Def. 1–2], 2019, n.p.). Derived from my work across Canada and current experience in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland, I believe that more multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary connections can be made for fulfilling and insightful research. Writing about different disciplines concerning arts-based research, McNiff hopes that we can “find ways to respect the different identities, languages, and methods of a more complete spectrum of transdisciplinary partners in which all of our human faculties are encouraged, respected, and free to explore and contribute to life in their unique ways” (2017, p. 35).

My previous clinical work with multidisciplinary teams of social workers, educators, psychologists, medical doctors, and occupational therapists has compelled me to believe that we can learn a lot more from one another through interdisciplinary connections. Working in academic silos can stifle our learning and practice. Consequently, this issue invited peer reviewers from diverse academic backgrounds, alongside art therapists and esteemed members of our international Editorial Review Board. The inclusion of different professionals, with different ways of knowing, as allies can help improve our own scholarly work and integrity. I am grateful for all of the peer reviewers who have contributed to this edition. In the future, I am hoping for more Indigenous, Francophone, and other researchers to offer their insight and perspectives.

This connection with others is equally as important as continuing to collectively develop and sustain our ever-evolving art therapist identity. This collaborative perspective is present in Henry, Parker, & Legari’s (2019) article about learning from a new art therapy program that has developed within the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Collaborations between art therapists and medical professionals in Canada has led the Médecins francophones du Canada in Quebec to soon prescribe art museum visits (Kelly, 2018). In a recent Montreal Gazette article, Dr. Hélène Boyer, vice-president of Médecins francophones du Canada and the head of the family medicine group at the CLSC St-Louis-du-Parc, states:

There’s more and more scientific proof that art therapy is good for your physical health… It increases our level of cortisol and our level of serotonin. We secrete hormones when we visit a museum and these hormones are responsible for our well-being. People tend to think this is only good for mental-health issues. That it’s for people who’re depressed or who have psychological problems. But that’s not the case. It’s good for patients with diabetes, for patients in palliative care, for people with chronic illness. (Kelly, 2018, para. 2)

Larger partnerships developed for the purpose of community and medical healing are now found in national political documents. These documents include the expertise of art therapy research, practice, and professionals within a spectrum of arts in health/well-being/medicine frameworks. For example, the Arts, Health, and Wellbeing in America whitepaper published in the United States (National Organization for Arts in Health, 2017); the Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing inquiry report published in the United Kingdom (All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing, 2017), and the National Arts and Health Framework published in Australia (Australian Government: Department of Communications and the Arts, 2014), among others.¹ Professionals and researchers with a common vision are joining together to advocate for the arts in holistic healing. Within this issue, authors Hewitt-Parsons, Catalyud, & Lee (2019) apply a spectrum of art therapy care to the province of Newfoundland and Labrador’s new stepped care model (Richards, 2012; Simms, 2018) as a practice framework for the authors’ art therapy outreach program.

Similar to arts-based research, art making can help “dissolve artificial disciplinary boundaries and further concentration on ways of knowing and the creation of methods of inquiry based on an effort to design the best approach to addressing particular questions and issues” (McNiff, 2017, p. 24). Volume 32, Issue 1 includes four sections that seek to include different vantagepoints and aspects of art therapy practice, while also taking into consideration scholarly and academic rigor. The four sections within this issue include: 1) research articles; 2) art therapy in practice; 3) approaches to art therapy; and 4) a book review.

This issue

This issue primarily includes qualitative research studies. Rich textual descriptions and the integration of unique experiences makes qualitative research a common methodology in the art therapy field, as seen in previous Canadian Art Therapy Association Journal issues. Malchiodi (2017) describes that the “Heurmeneutic, heuristic, and phenomenological methods are compatible with creative arts therapies research; for example, all of the creative arts involve action-oriented, experiential components and can easily be discussed through the lens of phenomenology” (p. 75). In this issue, beginning with primary attachment between the mothers and children in Israel, authors Yakovson and Snir’s phenomenological and grounded theory research focuses on the relational image themes that emerged when mothers and children created non-directed joint drawings. Focusing on peer relationships developed during collaborative art making, authors Kalaf and Plante document an action-based phenomenological research (Giorgi, 1997) during the Art4lives project in Lebanon. In this program, a group of Syrian refugee children created a stop-motion film.

The Art Therapy in Practice section of this issue documents art therapy within the wider community. As described above, this section features the articles from Hewitt-Parsons, Catalyud, & Lee, who share their collaborative art therapy outreach work across the Canadian Atlantic provinces. In Montreal, art therapist and art therapy students Henry, Parker, and Legari explore learning, location, art therapy, and the impact of artwork in an “alternative milieu for therapeutic services” in a collaborative autoethnography (Henry et al., 2019).

The Approaches to Art Therapy section presents an opportunity for art therapists to engage in theoretical work and inquiry, based on contemporary and historical research. Shifting the lens toward ourselves as professional art therapists, Bookbinder (2019) asks conference participants about financial compensation for art therapy and their conceptualization of the term “business” in her pilot study.

Lastly, looking toward contemporary art therapy literature, Lee (2019) reviews a book that “provides insight into the limitations and potential problems of cross-cultural art therapy work.” With insight as an art therapist who was born in South Korea and who trained and worked in the United States, Lee describes the implications and practical tools delineated in Using Art Techniques Across Cultural and Race Boundaries: Working With Identity (Dye, 2017).

Conclusion on mending

Regarding mending, to me it is the imperfect, ongoing process of repairing and caring for what we value. It seeks to bring separate parts closer together, while leaving each part intact. The imperfect nature of mending often leaves visible traces that add to its beauty as much as it shows the scars of its failings. It is a generative, creative, and collaborative gesture that supposes a willingness to honour rather than to consume and erase. (Chainey, 2019 personal communication, April 16)

The special issue explores the 2018 conference’s theme of Mending what is broken between us by combining international research from Canada, Lebanon, Israel, and the United States. The issue explores the symbolic theme of mending from different angles within a broad framework that encompasses multiple levels of relationships and creative experiences. The issue begins with artwork that emerges from primary caregiver relationships between mother and child and expands to how art therapy can build connections and healing in wider communities and locations. It features phenomenological explorations of introspective symbolism that emerges from art making and extends to larger connected experiences of creating art together in open studios. Furthermore, it discusses how art therapists may situate themselves as professionals in our evolving field. Supporting multiple ways of learning, the online journal features two films as supplementary documents, Kalaf & Plante’s article include the participants’ stop-motion films, while Hewitt-Parsons et al. share their art therapy roadshow experience in a video as well.

The history of colonialization in Canada and oppression of Indigenous, Metis, First Nations, and Inuit communities (among others) signifies that there is much healing and mending to be done by all people and professionals (Truth and Reconciliation Canada, 2015). The Truth and Reconciliation movement is one small step in this direction. I hope that upcoming art therapy research can include more indigenous methodologies and authors. Furthermore, many manuscripts were submitted for this issue, but we are limited by the available page count of each journal. This means that articles with this current theme will likely seep into the upcoming journal publication as well.

The intention of the journal issue and conference was “perhaps one of the many stitches along the way to collective, holistic, community healing…where art therapists can share their knowledge, practice, and questions with one another to create a larger movement for community healing and creative compassion” (Toll, 2018, p. 3). These stitches are small, well-intentioned, and careful steps toward an enormous goal.

Haley Toll, BFA, MA, CCC, RCAT, RP (inactive)
Canadian Art Therapy Association
Parksville, British Columbia, Canada
[email protected]

Correction Statement

This editorial has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the editorial.

Notes

1 It is important to note that these documents integrate the word well-being because international definitions of health have moved beyond the mere “the absence of a disease” (Clift, 2012, p. 120; World Health Organization [WHO], 1946; 1986; 2011; WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2013). International conceptions of well-being and health are seen as interconnected, while well-being can be achieved without someone necessarily being “healthy.”