Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy of related interest Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy TheoreticalandClinicalPerspectives EditedbyStephenK.LevineandEllenG.Levine ISBN1853024635 Poiesis TheLanguageof PsychologyandtheSpeechof theSoul StephenK.Levine ForewordbyPaoloKnill ISBN1853024880 The Healing Flow: Artistic Expression in Therapy CreativeArtsandtheProcessof Healing:AnImage/WordApproach Inquiry MartinaSchnetz ForewordbyV.Darroch-Lozowski ForewordbyDavidC.Wright ISBN1843102056 Art-Based Research ShaunMcNiff ISBN1853026212pb ISBN185302620hb The Expressive Body in Life, Art and Therapy WorkingwithMovement,MetaphorandMeaning DariaHalprin ForewordbyJackS.Weller ISBN1843107376 Principles and Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy Toward a Therapeutic Aesthetics Paolo J. Knill Ellen G. Levine Stephen K. Levine JessicaKingsleyPublishers LondonandPhiladelphia All rights reserved. No part ofthis publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use ofthis publication) without the written permission ofthe copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions ofthe Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms ofa licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part ofthis publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing ofan unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. The right ofPaolo J. Knill, Ellen G. Levine and Stephen K. Levine to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2005 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Paolo J. Knill, Ellen G. Levine and Stephen K. Levine 2005 Library ofCongress Cataloging in Publication Data Knill, Paolo J. Principlesandpracticeofexpressiveartstherapy:towardsatherapeuticaesthetics/PaoloJ. Knill, Ellen G. Levine and Stephen K. Levine.-- 1st American pbk. ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-84310-039-8 (pbk.) 1. Arts--Therapeutic use. 2. Creation (Literary, artistic, etc.)--Therapeutic use. 3. Art therapy--Philosophy. I. Levine, Ellen G. II. Levine, Stephen K. III. Title. RC489.A72K557 2005 616.89'1656--dc22 2004011544 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN-13: 978 184310 039 3 ISBN-10: 1 84310 039 8 ISBN pdfeBook: 1 84642 032 6 Printed and Bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear Contents Introduction 9 StephenK.Levine 1. The Philosophy of Expressive Arts Therapy: PoiesisasaResponsetotheWorld 15 StephenK.Levine Introduction 15 Therapeutic practice and the critique of modernism 17 Modernity and the mind–body split 18 Phenomenology and the overcoming of Cartesian dualism 21 Phenomenology and existence: being-in-the-world 23 World and earth: art as a setting-into-work of truth 26 Poiesis as a basis for the Menschenbild of expressive arts therapy 31 Poiesis, chaos and liminal experience 39 Liminality in the therapeutic process 45 Liminality and transitional experience 48 Archetypal psychology and the imagination 51 Post-modernism and a deconstructed psychology of the imagination 56 Trauma and the work of art 62 Aesthetics after Auschwitz 68 Conclusion 71 References 73 2. FoundationsforaTheoryofPractice 75 PaoloJ.Knill PART I: DECENTERING AND THE ALTERNATIVE EXPERIENCE OF WORLD: CONTINUITIES IN THE PRACTICE OF CHANGE AGENTS 76 The rites of restoration: architecture, role and setting 76 Decentering, an indispensable condition for alternative world experiences 83 PART II: ENGAGING THE ARTS AND PLAY MAKES A DIFFERENCE 85 What does it mean to “exercise” the arts or play in decentering, and how is it different from other decentering methods? 85 Providing a range of play: Spielraum as an indispensable condition for an alternative world experience 88 How do the arts provide the disciplined range of play? 90 PART III: THE THEORY OF PRACTICE 93 The heart of a session, the arts 94 Interdisciplinary considerations 118 Intervention 131 Interpretation and reflection 147 Architectural considerations 158 Administering the artistic process 163 References 169 3. The Practice of Expressive Arts Therapy: Training, Therapy and Supervision 171 EllenG.Levine PART I: TRAINING IN THE PRACTICE OF AN AESTHETIC THERAPY 171 Group painting in a training process: structuring and destructuring through the arts 176 The Horny Clay: dismembering and re-membering 180 Clowning as an intermodal expressive art: training therapists through clown 191 Music as a way of working through conflict in a training group 199 PART II: THE PRACTICE OF AN AESTHETIC THERAPY 202 Farah: breaking free and separating 203 Robert: playing with power 212 Jack: to the rescue 217 Sue and Sam: deadlock and struggle 220 Playing with order and chaos: a children’s play and arts therapy group 227 Music as an instrument of order in chaos 237 PART III: SUPERVISION OF THE PRACTICE OF AN AESTHETIC THERAPY 238 Learning through the arts: group supervision of expressive arts therapy trainees 243 Seeing and playing together: group supervision of a multidisciplinary training group 250 Conclusion 252 References 255 ABOUTTHEAUTHORS 256 SUBJECTINDEX 258 AUTHORINDEX 264 List of figures 2.1 The“architecture”of asession 95 3.1 TheHornyClay 182 3.2 TheHornyClaywithgrapes 186 3.3 TheHornyClayteaparty 188 3.4 TheHornyClayontherock 189 3.5 Clowncharacters 195 3.6 MaxandSadie,aclowncouple 196 3.7 Twohalvestogether 207 3.8 Ellen’shalf 208 3.9 Farah’shalf 208 3.10 Claymask–firststage 231 3.11 Singlefinishedmask 232 3.12 Allthefinishedmasks 233 3.13 Beforeandafter(client) 249 3.14 Beforeandafter(trainee) 249 3.15 Beforeandafter(client) 249 3.16 Beforeandafter(trainee) 249 List of tables 2.1 Categoricaldistinctionsintheartsdisciplines 101 2.2 Thetherapeuticsettingandtheartistictradition 160