Sally Skaife

Making Visible: Art Therapy and Intersubjectivity

Abstract This article argues that art often takes second place to the verbal in our conceptualising of art therapy, and that this may be because of an adherence to psychoanalytic thinking which splits subject and object, or combines notions of inter-subjectivity with the idea of an individual psyche. This article returns to the origins of the concept of intersubjectivity in philosophy, and explores the significance for art therapy of Merleau-Pontys idea of the body as expression and speech. By embracing intersubjectivity in art and in therapeutic relationships, art-making in art therapy may be made more visible. These ideas are explored in relation to art therapy practice in groups.

Off-Shore: A Deconstruction of David Maclagan’s and David Mann’s ‘Inscape’ Papers

Abstract This paper is a response to two recent papers in The International Journal of Art Therapy: Inscape that set out positions in relation to art therapy theory. David Maclagan (2005) argues for the importance of ‘imagination’ in art therapy, and David Mann (2006) responds by defending a Freudian view of art therapy which he feels Maclagan has unfairly attacked on the grounds of it suppressing imagination. The view of this paper is that the arguments in both papers perpetuate the split in art therapy between an emphasis either on the art in art therapy or the therapy in art therapy, and in both cases this is because the authors neglect the significance of embodiment. An acceptance of ourselves as physical beings brings with it an awareness of context and of gender and therefore of political relations. The two papers are deconstructed to reveal that the suppression of the perceptual results in a perpetuation of the crystallisation of imagination rather than the releasing of it, which the authors are intending. The feminist philosopher and psychoanalyst Luce Irigarays writings are used to propose a new way in which we might think about the relationship between art and talk in art therapy.

Taking the pulse of american art therapy a report on the 27th annual conference of the american art therapy association, november 13th 17th, 1996, philadelphia

Abstract Last year we attended the 27th Annual Conference of the American Art Therapy Association, following in the footsteps of Joan Woddis and Peter Byrne who attended the 16th and 17th Annual Conferences of AATA. In this paper we describe our experiences at the 1996 Conference and reflect on what we learnt there about art therapy in the differing cultural contexts of Britain and the United States of America. We set our thoughts in the developing debate about Anglo-American approaches to art therapy, aware that our impressions are based on a limited experience, not necessarily reflective of American art therapy as a whole

The impact of the Art Therapy Large Group, an educational tool in the training of art therapists, on post-qualification professional practice

ABSTRACT This article reports the findings of a Likert scale survey that was sent to past graduates of the MA Art Psychotherapy, Goldsmiths, University of London asking them about the relevance of their experience in the Art Therapy Large Group (ATLG) to their subsequent employment as art therapists or work in another capacity. The ATLG comprises all the students and staff in a psychodynamically based experiential group that meets six times during the year. Survey questions were drawn from previously devised theory and related to learning relevant to the workplace and the development of professional identity. Though there was a low response rate (20%), there were some significant findings, namely that graduates found the ATLG to be helpful in their work, whether this was art therapy or non-art therapy work, and that those who had studied part-time were much more positive about the applicability of their learning in the group to their work than those who had studied full-time. The findings suggest that the ATLG has a particular role in meeting key performance indicators in professional regulation and teaching and in quality assurance and employability policies in higher education. Finally, the potential for the use of the ATLG beyond the university in the public, private and voluntary sectors is suggested.