We offer this blog as further space for conversations about the arts and health – for swapping news, ideas, experiences and inspiring examples from practice and research. The blog is hosted by La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, because the four initial editors are staff members here. It is an outcome, in a way, of…
My new home This week we are pleased to share the third of Sally Goldstraw’s videos exploring children’s voices within domestic violence. In some situations children must leave the home with their mother in order to be safe. Leaving the relationship is the most dangerous time for women and children. Approximately 1 woman is murdered every…
My family This week Sally Goldstraw continues sharing with us a series of videos that explore children’s voices within domestic violence. As an art therapist working in family violence, Sally has recently worked with Silverpod Productions, a small company who focus on social advocacy and awareness raising campaigns, in collaboration with WRISC family violence support…
Introduction This week Sally Goldstraw begins the process of sharing with us a series of videos that explore children’s voices within domestic violence. As an art therapist working in family violence, Sally has recently worked with Silverpod Productions, a small company who focus on social advocacy and awareness raising campaigns, in collaboration with WRISC family…
Attending a recent conference about ‘Art and Spirituality’ in Trinity College, Dublin presented me with a unique opportunity to see ‘The Book of Kells’. This rare treasure is an illuminated gospel manuscript believed to have been created c.800. The manuscript today comprises 340 folios and is bound in four volumes. The leaves are on high-quality calf vellum and the elaborate ornamentation that…
On the South Pacific Island nation of Samoa, twenty minutes drive from the capital city Apia, is the Tiapapata Art Centre. Perched on a hillside and surrounded by jungle, it is here where victims of abuse learn to express themselves through art classes in drawing, pottery and woodblock as part of an ongoing art…
How do the arts support the health of people who work within our healthcare system? The more that we speak about arts and health the more we become aware of practitioners who rely on the arts to support their own wellbeing as they work on the coalface of public health. When those who care for others,…
ABC Central Victoria By Larissa Romensky This article recently published by Larissa Romensky from ABC Central Victoria explores the many benefits of the work that is happening with art therapy in Bendigo at the Vahland Complex. Larissa describes “an externally-funded art therapy program in Bendigo for people with serious mental health issues which aims to reduce stigma, with a…
With so much debate around the use of adult coloring books in art therapy we thought that this article by Thu-Huong Ha may be of interest. Your comments or thoughts would be welcome… Wolf in a craze’s clothing. (Blue Star Coloring/Katy Lipscomb) In January, Samantha Wuu quit her job in Boston to move home to…
Express Yourself and celebrate intercultural tolerance and diversity! You can draw someone who sparked your curiosity. • A Cross-Cultural Children’s Charity Mission (CCCC) to develop and strengthen Children mental and emotional wellbeing and social skills through drawing. Throughout History artists have used portraiture to convey expressions of empathetic understanding. Portraits tell stories that are an intrinsic…
Linda Judge, Howard’s Shoes, 2014, Acrylic on linen, 1500 x 1020mm, (Image courtesy of the artist) In the wake of her husband’s sudden death Linda Judge painted his personal possessions. “Initially I believed that if I painted his things it would stop me forgetting who he was and then maybe, it might be easier to throw some…