Materials in art therapy. A small list in the art therapist’s briefcase

 

Art therapy materials have a direct impact on the work with the client, they encourage to see and touch. They generate emotional uplift and awareness. Being themselves particles of reality, these materials encourage contact with reality. Thus, a dynamic interaction takes place between a person and artistic material.

It is especially interesting to find out which material causes the most expressiveness. Thus, the free choice of material is the most important driving force in the process of artistic work.
Art therapy work involves a large set of different visual materials:
1) paints, pencils, wax crayons, pastels;
2) to create collages or three-dimensional compositions, magazines, newspapers, wallpapers, paper napkins, colored paper, foil, film, candy boxes, postcards, braid, strings, textiles are used;
3) natural materials – bark, leaves and seeds of plants, flowers, feathers, branches, moss, pebbles;
4) for modeling – clay, plasticine, wood, special dough;
5) drawing paper of different formats and shades, cardboard;
6) brushes of different sizes, sponges for painting large areas, scissors, threads, different types of glues, adhesive tape.
As mentioned above, for art therapy you need a lot of paper of different colors and sizes. Nevertheless, for therapeutic work it is better to use the A3 format, because a sheet of paper is the client’s psychological space, and its artificial limitation can serve as a reason for the client’s psychological discomfort.
For the initial stage of working with drawings, try using yellowish paper, such as is used in the mail for packaging. Leaving the white color removes unnecessary complexes and emotional-behavioral barriers of the client, memories of school failures in drawing.

It is interesting to have paper of different textures in your arsenal, so to overcome the anxiety of the client, it is effective to use rough, textured paper that is uncomfortable for drawing, but overcoming such mechanical difficulties serves as preparatory work to activate the resources of the personality that will help find the necessary mechanisms to overcome the client’s anxiety.
Paper in art therapy is a therapeutic space where it is possible to create changes in the mental state of the client:
1. White paper, A3 format, for creating psychological drawings, the format of free consciousness;
2. White paper, A4 format, often used for diagnostics, intermediate drawing or sketching of states, control and security format;
3. Cardboard, of different colors and different formats, to work on assemblages and applications, to use for the purpose of displaying free creativity and creative liberation;
4. Textured paper of different density, marbled paper for decorating or embellishing details in the client’s work, accentuating, decorating, in order to create aesthetic pleasure from creative products;
5. Foil or shiny, mother-of-pearl paper – often used to give the work high cost, significance, chic. Recommended for clients with low self-esteem and depressive behavior;
6. Sets of colored paper for detailing the space in art works provides a psycho-emotional load with color for self-manifestation;
7. Old newspapers and magazines, postcards, calendars. To live the fear of a new and clean slate in order to relieve tension, to do something wrong or ugly;
8. Pieces of corrugated cardboard – often used as a basis for art work or a substrate for the convenience of making a fine product. Recommended for the study of bodily issues;
9. Homemade paper is a symbolic form of self-creation, a wonderful way of living through crisis stages when you need to create life anew;
10. Old books on which you can create drawings – overcoming the fear of creating correctly and beautifully.

Paints in art therapy should also be for different needs and tastes. Liquid paints (diluted gouache or liquid watercolor), the number of colors should not be less than 24 and gouache – the paint is opaque, dense. When dry, it acquires a matte finish. You can work with gouache not only on paper, but also on primed (non-washable) canvas, fabric, cardboard, plywood. So – as if a person is in a state of emotional creative upsurge, there is no time to form the desired color. The colors of the paints should be saturated, easy to apply to the brushes and dry quickly enough, so that it would be convenient to work with the drawings later. Carry out interpretation or transformations, drawings, etc.
Brushes should be comfortable enough to pick up and hold paint, not hard, but not too soft. Since in psychological drawing it is still important the symbolic transmission of the expression of feelings, experiences, emotions, memories, and not their photographic transmission with 100% similarity. After all, our spiritual sphere perceives images and symbols, imprints of sensations, and it is important to take this into account when working with a client and when selecting materials.

An interesting fact is that when a group or a client works long enough, then everyone has preferences for choosing a brush for painting. The therapy participant will search for their own brush from over fifty options presented in your collection of brushes for art therapy.

The brush is a kind of antenna that integrates, connects colors with the mental states of a person.

Wax or dry pastel. Wax crayons in blocks (often used for art therapy with children). Wax crayon blocks are not like regular pencils or crayons. The shape of the chalk is designed specifically for the child to cover it with all fingers. And in art therapy, we find it convenient to use these pencils to create quick sketches and ensure that the client’s inner critic is turned off.
Dry pastel as a material should be an indispensable element for the analysis of dynamic changes in the process of therapeutic work of a psychologist and a client. Pastels are dry, soft, rimless colored pencils pressed from finely ground high-quality pigments with a small amount of binders. Pastel is both a line and a color. She can draw both smooth, vague outlines and clear contours, apply one shade to another, and shade. So it is preferable to have a set of 100 or more colors, such a spectrum allows the client to instantly transfer his state to the color. This pastel is characterized by a fine gradation of colors, the clarity of the color gamut, which allows you to achieve expressiveness in the drawing. Dry pastel is the same watercolor that can be mixed in different shades on paper, shaded to obtain a uniform color directly with your fingers, which ensures a harmonious redistribution of the energy potential between the problem with which the client came from a sheet of paper, in itself has a therapeutic effect.
Pastel is produced both in the form of crayons and in the form of pencils, but from practice the client chooses more often in the form of chalk. It is important to be prepared for the fact that the pastel stains the fingers; for this, it is necessary to prepare wet wipes for hands. After the drawing is ready, so that the pastel does not crumble, it is necessary to lightly sprinkle it with hairspray.
The quality of materials should be as high as possible, otherwise the value of the work itself and its results may decrease.

Victoria Nazarevich 2021©️