Making Whole: Healing Through Art: Doorways through Time

by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal.  

The basic timeline has been used to depict and review a persons life path in a therapeutic way for decades. A simple line with demarcations for years and notations of important events help remind us of our journey, accomplishments, defeats, and choices along the way. 

As a visual tool, a timeline has endless possibilities for life reflection. A more creative approach means realizing that no ones life takes a straight line with a neat and orderly list of data and statistics. Our lives, and all the choices we have made, all the people who have come in and out of it, who we have loved and lost, all of our mistakes and successes, are made up of color, texture, scars and depth. 

In this approach to a life-reflection timeline, I ask you to consider your most impactful moments, the moments that have shaped you, hurt you, and healed you as doorways you have walked through to get to the next part of your journey.  Each doorway, from start to where you are today would look differently... perhaps the very first door that you entered into this world would look golden bright and new... perhaps a doorway to a toxic relationship would look battered, made of wood and broken.  

Use paint, pencils, collage materials, old photographs, any medium you feel most comfortable in, and create your time line of doorways and doors... 

Once finished, look at your journey. What does it tell you about the choices you have made? What are your doors made of? Have you had to squeeze through them? Have they been easy to open? to see through? Have you been able to guess what was behind them before you opened them? How can looking at them now help you in the future? 

Create an image of the next door you want to walk through.  Make it the most beautiful door you can dream of... post it somewhere you can see it everyday and make that choice a reality. 


Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

Making Whole: Healing Through Art: All The News That's Fit To Report

 by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal.  

The following process is based upon a project I wrote about in my third book Art as Therapy, Inspiration, Innovation and Ideas.  

It's a collage process that utilizes the newspaper as almost a spontaneous word association therapy session in a creative way that can open up new ideas about your own motivations, inner thoughts and emotions.


Here's what you need:
Daily newspapers, including comic sections, advertisements, everything.
18x24" Masonite board,
Modge Podge decoupage medium,
Sponge brushes.

• Pull apart the newspaper sections and pile in a heap on the table near your Masonite board and Modge Podge.

• Close your eyes and relax, clear your mind of any preconceived ideas of what you Want to create. Allow yourself to accept what comes to you.

• Reach into the pile of papers and glance over the headlines, images and words that jump out at you. As you see things that relate to you, how you are feeling or that just resonate with you in some way, rip them out of the paper and put them in a pile in front of you.  Continue to do this as you work your way through the newspapers.

• Once you have a good selection of collage/torn newspapers in front of you, begin to glue them onto your Masonite board with the Modge Podge glue. First put some glue onto the board, then apply the newsprint.  Do not try to put the newspaper in neat, orderly, easy-to-read columns, mix them up, in a collage fashion. Overlap, turn, flip and rotate in a careless, random fashion.  Cover the entire board.

• Once the whole board is covered go over the entire board with one more coat of the Modge Podge to seal.  Allow to dry.

Once dry, look at the piece as a whole. What words come out over and over again? What is the overall feel to the piece? Is there a theme? Is it an optimistic themed piece? or does it dwell on the dark side of the news? Is there a balance to the words and images, both negative and positive? Do the words represent things that have happened to you or how you feel? How do you feel when you look at the piece.

Hang the piece in a central area and invite close friends to give their opinion of how the piece makes them feel? How does their reaction make You feel? Talk to your friends about the process.

What you will find is that you have picked out words and images that relate to your current state of mind, you current inner thought process and inner emotions. They may not be things you are comfortable letting other see in you everyday, they may be feelings or thoughts you are more comfortable keeping hidden, but when you use the "news" to talk about these feelings, you can open up a discussion about these deeper parts of you, and begin to work through them and bring them to the light, whether with close friends or family, or just for yourself to further work on or accept.


Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Healing Through Art: What Are You Made Of?

 by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal.  

Paper dolls can have hinged appendages or be simple silhouette forms

Using the self-portrait in any of its forms as a tool to self-analyze is always useful.  It helps us visually identify how we feel about ourselves, and how the thoughts we have about ourselves can impact the way we feel and deal with our daily lives.

In this self-portrait activity, we start with a paper-doll form cut out of cardboard and using collage picture images of textures like stones, rocks, wood, and feathers and actual textural collage materials like lightweight fabrics, small screws and nails we create a tactile and visual representation of our how we see ourselves.

First gather materials. Find papers or magazine images of textures like images of rocks and stones, and actual fabrics.  Glue stick, super glue, and scissors.

Cut out a paper doll form that is at least 12 inches tall out of cardboard.

Using collage materials, cover the form with images of materials that relate to how that part of your body acts or feels.

For instance, if you head feels fuzzy, use cotton balls to cover it.  If you think you are hardheaded, cover it with pictures of granite or concrete.  If you think you have a screw loose, put screws or pictures of screws on the head. Get the idea?  

Do the same for all the areas of the body on the doll form.

Once complete, look at the complete form… at the representation you created of YOU.  When you see it complete, what does it tell you? What do you think others would see or think if they saw it? Do you think it is an accurate description of you?

Let the doll sit in your space for a few days.  Look at it and see if it still seems to fit who you think you are. 

Are there things you would like to change about it? Would you like to be less hardheaded for example?  How would you do that? Can you make a change on the doll to represent that? Do so. 

Continue to work on the doll to change the things you want to change… one thing at a time.  Look at the doll continually to remind yourself of the changes you’d like to make.

Remember, a self-portrait only captures your interpretation of you in that moment of time, and you, like your portrait, are always a work in progress… the journey continues.

 Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Re-imagine Happiness

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 by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal. 

Milkweed Study: Steinbach

 We often take the little things for granted, and when we are feeling depressed, lonely, and worn –out; we find it even more difficult to find the “happy” in our world.

There is a saying about smiling when you don’t feel like it… “Fake it till you make it,” force your smile and eventually it will become real.  It’s the same way about recognizing beauty again in our world.  If we force ourselves to go out and search for beauty, even in the oddest, littlest thing just outside our door, we may begin to recognize and seek out beauty more and more.

That is part of lifting ourselves out of our own loneliness, sadness and depression. No matter what has brought it on, illness, tragedy, loss or heartache, when we force ourselves to move, even the slightest bit, to recognize the beauty around us, we remember what we are really meant to do in this world. We are meant to find joy, to be happy, to celebrate in spite of everything… to love. 

Take a digital camera or drawing pad and pen if you prefer and move outside or to a place out of your normal space.  Look around you at the familiar and unfamiliar. Look closely at the lines and shadows of everyday objects, the colors and variations of leaves and insects, the bumps and imperfections in the sidewalk, brickwork or tree bark.  Find beauty in the rusty car across the street or in the broken window in the house next door.  Take photos or draw the things you see that you find beauty in or that make you happy in a way. “Capture” the things that you find interesting. 

Milkweed Study: Steinbach

When you return home, play around with your digital images on your computer, or print the images and hang them on your bathroom mirror, on the fridge or near your bed stand.  Use them to make cards to send to friends and tell them about your experience.

If you made drawings, bring them home and use colored pencils to color in specific areas to draw more attention to them. Hang them on the wall, again, near the bed, on the fridge, near the phone or TV.  Allow them to motivate you to do more, see more and find more beauty in the world around you.

Milkweed Study: Steinbach

Make this an everyday challenge to find two, or ten new things to inspire you. Bring them home and do something creative with them. Post them online to show your friends and inspire them. Let the ball roll and see where it takes you.  Put all the pictures together and see if they tell a story. 

What have you discovered? Share here….

Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Healing a Broken Heart

by Diane Steinbach

Making Whole is a bi-monthly art therapy column focused on art to heal.

Living with a broken heart is something that many, many people do for one reason or another. Sometimes broken hearts heal, other times we just make do and keep going.  No matter what caused our broken heart, a trauma, a broken relationship, the loss of a loved one or any number of other causes, the first step to healing the heart is acknowledging the wound.

This art project helps those of us with a broken heart visualize the pain and hurt we feel that no one else can see. When we use paint and collage materials to illustrate the damage and repair our hearts need, we can share and show our feelings in a concrete way.

What you need:

Watercolor paper

Watercolor paints

Brushes

Superglue

Black permanent markers

 Miscellaneous closure items like zippers, buttons, band aides, snaps, safety pins, staples etc.

1.     Use the watercolor paints and paper to paint a representation of your heart on the page. Fill in the heart with color and paint in the background.

2.     Once the paper is dry, use the glue to apply some of the closure collage materials to indicate the areas where your heart has been broken and is being mended and repaired.

3.     Use the black marker to add text if some words come to mind that you’d like to include to help to illustrate your feelings.

Reflect on the repairs you have made on your broken heart. Look at the colors you choose. What is the overall feeling of the picture? Is it dark; are there a lot of closure devices holding your heart together? Then you are at the beginning of healing your heart.

Do this exercise again in a few months. Compare the two hearts. Do you see improvement? Do you see the colors getting lighter or more vibrant? Do you see less mends or closures? Is your heart healing? If not, what can you do to work on healing?

Continue to do this exercise every three or four months to check your own progress.  Be kind to yourself and love yourself to heal your heart.

Diane Steinbach is an art therapist and the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Illustrate a Quote

by Diane Steinbach

The written word, whether it is a particularly significant song lyric, bible verse or famous quote, can sometimes resonate so deeply with something within us that we grasp onto it like a life raft in times of trouble or sorrow.

Write down whatever quote or verse that reflects your current mood.  Illustrate it through the abstract use of color and lines, or a more representative image. Think about the words while you work, and how the words relate to you and your own feelings and situation.  Take your time and develop the image fully.

When you are done take a deep breath and release all the emotion you have tied to the words, be them sadness, loneliness, regret or anxiety. Release those emotions and deposit them into the drawing. Walk away feeling lighter and more at ease.


Diane Steinbach is the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Line Drawing: Tree

by Diane Steinbach

"Making Whole" is a bi monthly column focusing on art therapy to help heal inner trauma or promote healing and personal growth.

The tree image is a profound symbol. We plant a tree to memorialize big events: births, deaths… We stand in awe at the roots of giant Sequoias trees or Redwoods and witness them as testimony to the very power of nature or God.

Trees are perfect in all their imperfections, just like us; in fact, it is their very imperfections that make them interesting and complex. The organic shape of the bark, the knotholes, the scars, the twists and turns of the branches, our eyes are transfixed.

Imagine yourself as a tree.  Using a pen, marker, crayon or pencil, draw your tree. 

Once done, look at your tree. Does it look full and thriving or dying off? Is it scarred or smooth? Does the tree represent how you feel about yourself?

What could you do to nourish or improve your tree? What does the tree need? Over time, do more tree drawings and strive to nourish and care for the tree that you create. Feed the roots and protect them. Allow the tree to have foliage and provide shade. Add more things to the surrounds of the tree, a sun, grass, and animals… provide a glorious environment for your tree – you- to thrive and heal.  

Diane is the author of: Art As Therapy: Innovations, Inspiration and Ideas:, Art Activities for Groups: Providing Therapy, Fun and Function and A Practical Guide to Art Therapy Groups

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Making Whole: Art Therapy Process: Mandala

by Diane Steinbach 

Welcome to our first Making Whole Column. This will be a bi monthly column focusing on art therapy to help heal inner trauma or promote healing and personal growth. As an art therapist I have helped people connect with art medium to  express themselves for decades and our hope is that you can use it in your own personal way for healing, relaxation or to help work through stress. As time goes on all the Making Whole posts will be gathered together on a separate Page for easy reference.

Mandala is a Sanskrit word meaning “circle” or “completion” and has been part of artistic expression in many cultures for hundreds of years. Considered  a valuable  tool by some of the very founders of Psychology like Carl Jung, the use of the Mandala as a path towards healing and a means of reflecting our own inner thoughts and nature make it  ideal  to use in art therapy.

The Mandala is basically a circle with artwork contained within. A perfect way to provide structure to a basically unstructured, guided art process; Mandala can be used over and over again to help work through inner thoughts and feelings.

Begin by drawing a large circle on a piece of paper.  Begin thinking about your path, your journey through life thus far or however you are feeling at the moment.  Use colors and lines within the circle to represent your inner soul, your inner thoughts, chaotic or organized, the mix of happiness, relief, guilt or remorse you might feel.  Anything you do is acceptable. Divide your Mandala into parts to represent different aspects of your emotions if you want.  Just follow your instincts and create in a free and unplanned way. Whatever you are feeling at the moment will guide your Mandala.

Your Mandala can be done with paints, crayons, and markers, anything that allows you to create in color freely and easily. You should create in a relaxed state or in the hopes of expressing whatever emotions you may be experiencing at the moment. By placing your images and thoughts into the Mandala you can release them from your own mind and lower your bodies stress and anxiety levels.

Once you have completed your Mandala look at the colors, shapes, use of lines and overall effect of your work. Write down any connections you feel between the emotions and thoughts you were feeling or thinking while creating your Mandala. The insights you gain can further help you towards your journey of healing.

Keep a Mandala journal, where you can “doodle” into the familiar circular form anytime you feel uneasy, anxious or upset. 

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