After a lot of consideration about my own final piece I have started experimentingwith raw meat.
Here is a few examples of the use of meat in today’s couture fashion.
Looking at the organic forms and textures created by Bauer I wondered about an equally organic material to express that kind of inspiration.
Meaty Fashion successfully draws attention to many serious issues including animal cruelty. The newest Jeremy Scott’s collection uses some artificial ham to reinforce the idea.
And, of course, Lady Gaga did not fail to shock wearing her truly meaty outfit complete with a head piece, handbag and a pair of heels.
Margaux Lange is one of my favourite jewellery designers, at this point in time.
Her work is also related to the body but this time from a different perspective – practically the opposite of organic.
Lange looks at the mass production aspect of Barbie Dolls and their iconic influence over the way the perfect body is perceived.
Apart from making jewellery, Ela Bauer, with some help from fellow designers organized an international exhibition aimed at creating links between jewelers from around the World.
The exhibitions gathers contemporary jewellery from many countries and it travels from one art gallery to the next visiting: Amsterdam, Tokyo, Munich, Stockholm and Bern.
Ela travelled all the way to Sao Paulo to give a lecture about souvenirs and their connections to jewellery design.
She participated in a series of workshops which were focused around the idea of taking part in a journey and forming memories as the result.
Another highly valuable project that Bauer participated in was organized by Arte Libera from Geneva. The exposition was centered around the idea of childhood protection.
Ela’s pieces made for this are ones of my favorites.The materials that the designer has used for this project are mostly found objects, which were abandoned and forgotten, just like the lost children, the central idea behind the whole exhibition.
The main source of inspiration for Bauer is the human body and nature.
Her designs mirror the organic. They seem to have a heart beat.
A series of heart inspired jewellery.
Personally, I find it very moving and the process of creation of these pieces is fascinating, with connections to shamanism.
The hand-made element reinforces the artists concept.
The designer is continuously exploring the possibilities the plastics provide in jewellery design :
Object ’95 :
silicone – rubber
latex
fabric
pigments
Adamson, E., (1984), Art as Healing, London, Coventure Ltd.
“Art as Healing” explores the relationship between art practices such as painting, sculpture and sketching and the psychological effects that these have on young children, the mentally ill and the most vulnerable members of our society.
Bremner J., Dean J., McCoig M., Skinner, K., (2005), Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital: Arts Project, Aberdeen, PACE
This colourful publication illustrates the story of the refurbishment of the Children’s Hospital in Aberdeen. Some wonderful examples of architecture and design were used in that project along side art work provided by Scottish Fine Artists. The book demonstrates the kind of environment that inspires and encourages patients to stay positive and get better.
Farrelly – Hansen, M., (2001), Spirituality and Art Therapy: Living the Connection, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Avery interesting take on Art Therapy is explored in this book, the author describes many incidents were the use of Art Therapy was priceless but the fact that is was connoted to a particular religion was essential. This shows a “shamanistic” view on the discipline which contradicts all the most of the other books I read, which treat Art Therapy almost as rigorously as if it was a science subject.
Furth, G. M., (1988), The secret world of drawings: a Jungian approach to healing through art, Boston, Sigo Press
Gregg Furth's book is a complex study of spontaneous drawings created by a wide spectrum of patients, from young terminally ill children, their parents and families to troubled adolescents, prisoners, the disabled and the elderly.
Gordon A. M., Browne K. W., (2007) Beginnings & Beyond: Foundations in Early Childhood
An effective book which considers all things important when growing up. It explores different relationships and the way’s a child is starting to form their opinion of the word around. A big section on learning new skills and how creativity develops from a very young age.
Gordon P., Szreter R., (1989), History of Education: The Making of a Discipline, Oxon, Routledge
Great source of information on how education actually started and how it has developed to the stage it is on at the moment. Many valuable stories and facts written up in a clear and understandable language to promote a further research into the field. An essential read.
Malchiodi, C. A., (1999), Medical Art Therapy with Children, London, Jessica Kingsley Publishers Ltd.
Malchiodi focuses on using art as a means of communication between seriously ill children undergoing aggressive medical treatment and the professionals working with them. It helps to use and translate the language of drawings into our day to day verbal communication.
MacLeman, M., Pearson, J., (2008), The Pattern of a Bird, Glasgow, Art in Hospital
This beautiful book tells the stories of a hospice’s patients and their adventures with Art and Poetry. It shows how important art making or the creative process, as a whole is, in relation to situations of deep despair such as terminal illness. A truly inspiring publication.
http://www.arttherapy.org/
The American take on Art Therapy. This will enable me to look into the differences between the practises of this discipline in the two countries. Which one is more effective, works more efficiently and create a safer environment for the patient? These questions will definitely be addressed in one of the parts of my presentation.
http://www.baat.org/index.html
Another professional web page focusing on the use of Art Therapy within the UK. Many interesting events and facts are discussed on the forums. This will be really useful of finding information out about potential contacts and people to interview.
http://www.nsead.org/home/index.aspx
The National Society for Education in Art and Design’s official website. General information for art and design teachers and those interested in this path. This web page has many sections including a primary education one, with articles I will most probably find invaluable in to further my knowledge of the field.
http://www.satf.org.uk/
A fantastic website for a valuable information concerning Art Therapies. It looks at Music, Drama and Dance as well as Art Therapies. Many useful links to other web pages of different organisations can be found. What is even more exiting there is a forum filled with suggestions about upcoming events relation to this discipline.
1. A full review of literature and Internet sources on the subject of Art Therapy with children.
2. Full reviews of local authorities take on Art Therapy and Art Therapists offices in Dundee and Scotland – interviews.
3. Interviews with school children, art and care teachers and school psychologists.
4. Interviews with GPs, paediatricians, hospital and hospice staff members and patients.
5. Interviews with fellow designers and architects, especially interior and environmental.
6. Art and design experiments with school children and kids at the hospital/hospice.
7. Questioners of awareness about Art Therapy practice to all above.
Art, Therapy, Children, Education, Elementary, Hospital, Interior, Design.
“Art as Healing” explores the relationship between art practices such as painting, sculpture and sketching and the psychological effects that these have on young children, the mentally ill and the most vulnerable members of our society.
The author, Edward Adamson as an artist himself, challenges us to reconsider what therapy really is and how to use it in order to help to bring out some of the most shameful and difficult thoughts out to then deal with these through psychotherapy. The writer studies many examples from his work experience of over 37 years at the Hospital for mentally ill – Netherne Hospital.
The most vital part of the book is the exploration of numerous examples of drawings, paintings and sculptures that are visual examples of how art therapy affects individuals and how certain symbols being repeated throughout the whole field. Some other important aspects of this publication are: firstly, the layout of mental hospitals and similar institutions which is mentioned a number of times. Secondly, preventive art therapy is explored in the last chapter if the book and it relates to activities for troubled school students and people exposed to stressful and traumatic events at that particular point in their life.
When it comes to the author’s key sources and influences, primarily, it is his almost life time of work as the Art Director at the Netherne Hospital for the mentally ill. From that time, there are many studies made that the author included in the book. A few of these are, for example, explorations of symbolism and the hospital environment as well as particular art techniques used by the patients and their relevance in the recovery process. Furthermore, the writer has a private practice in his own studio in Chelsea and is a curator of a new art gallery near Cambridge which focuses on the works of his art therapy patients.
The most important conclusions the author reaches are how effective non-invasive treatment such as art therapy is in relation to mental illnesses and patients who are most vulnerable to post traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders. Another very important conclusion of the book is how important Art and Design as a school subject is. It is well know that in primary school all pupils are encouraged to participate in creative classes, however as soon as a transition to secondary education is made all efforts to develop the creative side of student’s personally are almost abandoned in order to focus all the attention on so called “real” subjects like Maths, Science or English. The implications of this could be tremendously severe as anger and frustration without a means of being expressed say stored in one’s subconscious waiting for a climax moment of outburst.
As a whole, I found this book truly helpful in gaining a better understanding of the subject of Art Therapy as a whole. Moreover, I appreciate the fact that the relevance of teaching art was mentioned and discussed, which is of great interest to myself. I am certain that in the near future, I will be delighted to look into this publication again to support some of my own views and conclusions.
“Educational history presents numerous points of contact with the whole current of the history of humanity and human interests, and necessarily develops a broad outlook.”
In the preliterate civilisations education was passed on verbally or through mural paintings. It was passed on from one generation to the other but soon after that, this system was classified as insufficient and a new way of sharing information was created – writing. Along with this development, new ways of teaching emerged and education was transferred into specific institutions in the ancient times. Unfortunately, it was only accessible to the rich members of the society who believed that solely boys should be educated, discriminating girls and taking away their chance of gaining a better understanding of the World. This approach changed drastically after the Reformation period during the European Renaissance as Gordon (2009) brings to our attention:
"The call for a universal education and literacy are two fundamental effects of this period on education as we know it today."
From then on education was recommended for both sexes, although the differentiation between female and male students was still appallingly visible. Furthermore, education was practically fully coordinated by the clergy and sponsored by the churches which often did not result in the best outcomes for the poorest students. Following that many European governments started founding of basic and primary education as it was believed that literacy and general knowledge helped in creating a new kind of citizen with full respect for the state’s laws.
In the present times education is one of the most fundamental pillars our society is based on. It is essential for all individuals to further their education to the best of their abilities in order to enhance the development of our culture. Education could be divided into separate institutions where it takes place at: Primary, Secondary and Higher/Further. Each one of these subdivides into more specific groups which are very different from one another at many levels.
The connection between education and design is indisputable and it is almost impossible to think of one without mentioning the other. Education shapes and influences design development and all the same design helps to form new teaching/learning methods and makes us imagine innovative ways of approaching educational techniques. The most important aspects of these disciplines combined are developing new, exciting and effective techniques in teaching design and other subjects at different levels of education. Eastman (2001) makes a very important point:
“The need for innovative designers has never been stronger. Industrial organisations and institutions of higher education alike recognise that as society advances design problems increase in complexity”.
The links between the two specialities are growing stronger minute by minute as the latest researches prove the effectiveness of design techniques applied in education. A valuable example to illustrate this is the use of visual techniques such as art and colour therapy, which originated from design related fields, into the teaching methods of special needs pupils in primary and secondary educational institutions. Rubin (1999) states:
“I am convinced that it is the synergistic potency of the combination of art with therapy which accounts for the extremely rapid growth of this still-young field.”
Another important part of the union of education and design is the use of new technologies in primary and secondary institutions. The relationship between new designs and the ways of teaching traditional subjects is ever changing which opens many possibilities for new designer to enhance the learning experience of often bored and unhappy students. Mixing new technologies can transform learning into an unforgettable experience and maximise the teaching results for both educators and pupils. Moreover, there is a vast amount of inspiration of be found in the actual process of learning design and teaching design. It is a very innovative and controversial subject which could potentially suggest an alternative approach toward educating in general as Eastman (2001) implies:
“Strong links are yet to be forged between pedagogical theory regarding design learning and the science of design itself.”
Design has the potential to change the facade of education for good; it has the means to employ fresh, ‘outside the box’ ideas to all types of education: primary, secondary and higher. Looking into educational systems from a creative thinking perspective enables designers to generate solutions for existing as well as potential teaching problems. Educators and designers working together have the potential of improving the two disciplines by sharing their experiences and developing innovative explanations into the existing programme. A collaboration of education and design could be the future to a more efficient, exiting and valuable teaching and learning experience.
