Art Therapy Personal Statement

Before I graduated from college, an art therapist saved my life. She helped me work through my diagnosis by utilizing various art forms. Upon termination, art therapy had given me true healing and empowered me to use art for self-expression. Today, I am thriving with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, applying to graduate school to follow my passion, and wearing my adversity as a badge of triumph. The power of art therapy provided me with an inside look at the difference an art therapist can make. Now I am ready and determined to help others find their own healing through art.

Since I was old enough to hold a crayon, I have wanted to be an artist. The desire to create has grown exponentially with time, and so I attended the University of Iowa to expand my creative capabilities and learn from the work of experienced faculty and other students. Through my studies, I quickly learned a traditional fine arts education focused on technique. However, I learned the strength of my art resided in the conceptualization of my own story and emotions
By delving into new media, I realized the process of creating art was just as therapeutic as the work itself. In printmaking, for example, I designed a silkscreen self-portrait which illustrated my mental disorder. The first print was the most emotionally difficult to make because I struggled confronting my disorder. However, the more copies I created, the more I could accept the face looking back at me. Because of this process, I could present the piece in my classroom critique. Additionally, my ceramic pieces each had a definite conceptual backbone, but working the clay with my hands promoted a sense of wellness and satisfaction that I had not yet achieved with another medium. The combined therapeutic capability of art itself and the process of making art are now tools of healing and self-expression that I can use as an artist and in my future