exercises

DRAW MASKS (art therapy technique)

The art therapy technique of “masks” is effective for correcting various fears, and above all those caused by the imagination: fear of illness, falling, natural disasters, transport, fairy-tale characters, etc.
In the process of drawing, there is a “revival” of the feeling of fear and, at the same time, an awareness of the conditional nature of this image. The trusting relationship that develops between the participants in the lesson reinforces the expected result.
The art therapy space includes personal workstations (desk and chair) for individual creativity, a circle of chairs, tables for collective work of small groups, and a stage space.

Materials: sauce, sanguine, art charcoal, sheets of A4 paper, drawing paper (one for each small group), glue, soft eraser, chalk pieces, colored pencils, felt-tip pens, gouache, watercolors. (Matches and a container that can be used to safely burn drawings may be needed.)

Basic procedures. Stages

1. Set up (“warm up”)
Participants take places for individual work. As an independent exercise at the stage of mood, participants can be invited to depict certain emotions with the help of lines and colors, for example, according to the method of M. Betensky – fear, love, anger. The main condition: the drawings must be abstract, i.e. not contain specific images, pictograms, stamp symbols (hearts, flowers, arrows, etc.).
Everyone works independently. The image of one emotion is given 2-3 minutes. At this stage, there is no discussion.
However, if the need to share impressions is clearly expressed in the group, it is necessary to direct the verbal self-expression of the participants to a discussion of their feelings, motives for choosing colors, shapes, but not to analyze visual products.

2. Actualization of the emotion of fear
Participants are invited to sit on chairs arranged in a circle.
• Everyone, both adults and children, is familiar with the feeling of fear. Close your eyes and imagine the situation, your feelings when you were scared. Give this a name.
• Open your eyes. Talk about your feelings.
It is desirable that the child (adult) on whose face the psychologist sees the strongest emotions speaks first. Do not force if the person refuses!
Another version of this step is also possible. For example, all those present are invited to split into pairs and tell each other the most terrible dreams or stories from their lives.

3. Individual work. “The Materialization of Fear”
Participants again take places for individual work.
• Draw your fear on a piece of paper. You don’t have to show your work to anyone.
• Do whatever you want with the drawing. It can be crushed, torn, burned or otherwise destroyed.
After the participants have dealt with their fears materialized in the drawings, they are offered the following instruction.
• Draw a fear mask on a piece of paper using sanguine, sauce, or charcoal. On a black or brown background, you can draw with white chalk or lighten the outlines of the image with an eraser.
• Tear off excess paper with your fingers – the background. Knives cannot be used.

Such work contributes to the development of tactile sensitivity and fine motor skills of the hands.
Interpretation of some features of the mask is also possible. Informative are the size, the depicted emotion, the presence of such elements as eyes, mouth, teeth, ears, horns, etc.

L.D. Lebedeva “Practice of art therapy approaches, diagnostics, training system”