Developing Modality of the Art Therapy Schools

Once art therapy became part of the psychotherapeutic modality, another avenue opened up for healing–Art Therapy Schools. Visual expression prior to the 1940s was based on the artist’s ability to clearly express themselves, using techniques dating back to the Paleolithic era and the first cave art.

Two entirely separate things, art and healing, both complemented each other but were basically not connected as a distinctive professional tool, that is until the development of art therapy. Art Therapy Schools were then begun, as the interest in the field became popular with children with a developing ability to reach the darkest recesses of the human mind. Up until then, their trauma and crisis had been tackled by traditional talk therapies that had been used with anything short of success.

Art Therapy Schools are on the rise due to the combination of traditional psychotherapeutic theories and techniques that work in diverse populations, such as children, adolescents, and adults. Art therapy works because it is healing, because it works through traumatic issues–by using a person’s subconscious creativity in their drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture, and even their writing. Their underlying feelings combined with subconscious thoughts help the clients gain better insight about what has happened to them, assisted by professional art therapists and Art Therapy Schools.

Art Therapy Schools train individuals in the field of psychological assessments in order to administer and interpret them. Not a new thing, in 1906 a German psychiatrist by the name of Fritz Mohr created the world’s first drawing assessment for the purpose of psychological purposes. Right after that in 1926, a researcher by the name of Florence Goodenough created a way to measure the intelligence of children with the Draw-A-Man-Test, whereas the more details the child being tested could incorporate into the drawing–the smarter they were.

C.J. Jung once said, “The hands know how to solve a riddle with which the intellect struggles in vain.” With this in mind, the Art Therapy Schools are simply another piece of the puzzle when it comes to working with emotional conflicts on many levels of the mind. And when it comes to working with children or adolescents who are troubled and have many issues, art therapy helps to identify and reconcile such things. Visual art processes are used as the primary modality for treatments and assessments, whereas art education teaches the children or adolescents to produce and evaluate their own art work, not analyze what message it is subconsciously saying.

Schools and other institutions that work with troubled individuals share responsibilities, with the art therapist participating as a member of the treatment group. The goal of this group is to successfully assist in the development of a meaningful identity for the troubled individual.

Using Clip Art for Massage Therapy

When it comes to promoting a business in massage therapy, using clip art for massage therapy is the cheapest and wisest way to go. If this does not sound accurate, check out the price for good quality original artwork, unless that massage therapist is also an excellent artist who does his or her own clip art. Once this is done, it will become quite apparent that high quality clip art for massage therapy is more than a bargain.

The only problem with choosing good clip art for massage therapy is there is too much to pick from. Considered as pre-made images to illustrate any graphic arts medium, almost anyone in advertising or business uses clip art anymore. Not including stock photography the majority of the time, clip art is usually done by hand or by computer software. Available in black and white, or in full color, the term “clip art” originally began when people cut out certain images from pre-existing art work to form a new piece of art work.

With so much to pick from, it is difficult to pick the “right” type of clip art for a person’s advertising to promote their massage business, unless they know what they want to say and how to say it. Many styles and concepts are used, such as humorous, serious, illustrative, wood block, sketchy, abstract, realistic, and so on. The main thing is to choose the type of clip art for massage therapy that illustrates an idea or tells a story–contributing a specific meaning to a certain message that the message owner wants to send out.

Learning to use visual language in addition to wordage will make a person better equipped to expand their message business. Using borders and background as decorative elements to break up space, using diversity that is like none others, along with many other ways to send out a message while using clip art for massage therapy ideas include:

• Visual Puns - one or two possible meanings can be portrayed by one or two symbols.
• Symbol - using a visual image of something that is invisible.
• Sign - the use of a shorthand device that actually stands for something else.
• Metaphor - a likeness between two ideas portrayed by a likeness
• Icon - image used to suggest a meaning
• Cliché - an image with a widely understood meaning.

Many artists and designers have said, “If concept is what you say, style is how you phrase it.” This is the reason one artist can come up with so many different ideas for one simple meaning. But in truth, professional designers do not have the magic formula to make their work better than another one does. They only can communicate the message better, using art and words alone.