Visual Arts and Healing



Number Six (from my numberical series)
24 x 24 inches, mixed-media on wood

The Visual Arts have the ability to heal... "In 1 study, surgery or critical care patients who participated in guided imagery or had a picture of a landscape on their wall had a decreased need of narcotic pain medication relative to their counterparts and left the hospital earlier."

Consider the painting on the left, Number Six. Can you imagine being penetrated by the sharp edges of the Star of David? Not in a physical way, perhaps, but in a mental or spiritual way.

Gaze at the shape and let it change you somehow. Imagine it spinning, side to side. Imagine it moving closer to you like a buzz saw. Then, imagine the shape moving backwards inviting you to join it. What are the remaining parts of the painting doing? Do any memories pop up? What are you feeling? Perhaps you feel something but cannot put words to it. Healing on some level has begun. A new appreciation of some aspect of your life will appear. Be on the look out for new things happening.

Take note of how this art piece, or any other art piece has touched you somehow. Is that not healing? If we allow ourselves to be touched and transformed by the arts, can we find a newfound respect for the arts on the whole? Can we allow ourselves to spend money to buy art because of its essential nature? Art is nowhere mere decoration. It is stuff that can pierce open new vistas within your heart, mind, and spirit. Will you let it in?

Link to full article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/