BASIC ART THERAPY TECHNIQUES.

Art therapy techniques and exercises are often created spontaneously, intuitively, creatively. Some classic techniques are described below:
1) Drawing yourself. The purpose of this exercise is to introduce yourself to the group without resorting to words. It can be: an illustration of your lifestyle, your values ​​and interests, your attitude, a metaphor that reflects you as a whole or the world in which you live.
2) Status drawing. Each member of the group has at his disposal a lot of paper and paint, colored pencils, crayons. Use one or two minutes to become aware of the sensations and feelings that arise at this moment. Forget about art and don’t try to be an artist. Take a pencil and start putting some strokes on the paper. Draw colored lines
and shapes that tell you how you feel.
Try to symbolically express your state at the moment. Don’t force yourself to draw something specific and highly artistic. Draw what
what comes to mind. When all group members have completed the task, the group can share their impressions of each drawing without judging it in any way.
3) Exercise “Play like a child …”. Draw with your “non-working” hand the most favorite game (or activity) of your childhood and come up with a name for the drawing.
For work, it is better to take soft visual materials (gouache, crayons, watercolors, etc.), sheets of large format paper (A3 and larger).
It is clear that when drawing with the left hand, the “right-handed” kind of pushes the boundaries of skills, opens up new feelings in himself, becomes more spontaneous. At
In this case, there is a high probability of manifestation of strong feelings, children’s fears, and vice versa, the appearance of vivid creative images. Then you can discuss why this particular children’s game arose in the imagination? How
did the person feel while working on images? What does it feel now?
4) Working with clay. Use clay to express current experiences at the moment. It may
be: tactile mastering of clay, squeezing, smoothing, tearing,
shaping, throwing, etc. Work options:
– Create a sculptural image by closing your eyes;
– Create imprints of various objects in clay;
– Make figurines from clay for a thematic group composition;
– Make various clay vessels;
– Create and then paint clay figures; – Create clay casts of various objects and surfaces, body parts;
– Create a flat clay mask by rolling the clay with a roller, decorate
surface with imprints of various textures (if there is a possibility of firing,
this mask can then be painted);
– Create a clay amulet or charm.
Working with effects develops spontaneity and novelty of perception. The purpose of this work is always in-depth self-knowledge, the development of new activities and ways of behavior in an unknown situation. All these exercises actualize strong experiences, feelings, fantasies and fears. They do not have a clear thematic conditionality. They are applicable to
working stage of the group in the conditions of the formed atmosphere of trust and
acceptance. These techniques are related to techniques for working with deep
unconscious and are used in the context of the analytical and
existential art therapy.