Discussion with LS (Part 2/6)
I’d previously been deliberating a lot about whether or not I could be an art therapist. I generally find that when I talk about it to others they’re never quite sure what it is and what it can be used for. On that basis I’m interested to know what informed your decision to study Art Therapy.
I’d been interested in it since I was a teenager, and I’d also done a placement with arts therapists in 2001, which I enjoyed, though I decided to concentrate on my own artwork and doing social art instead of being an art therapist because I could see it as being quite a different thing. But the idea never really went away. I started to think if I don’t do it I’m always going to wonder and working 3 years on something (part-time) is really not that long in the grand scheme of things. Also in the past I didn’t know how I’d be able to do it. I wanted to do the Goldsmiths course, but London is hugely expensive, the course is expensive, you’ve got to have personal therapy yourself…. how is anybody ever going to afford it all? But then I found myself living in really cheap accommodation practically opposite Goldsmiths; working freelance, so I put in an application and got in, thought I’d do the first year and see how that went, and then I ended up doing the whole 3 years! I’m really glad I did it. And it was the right time to take on new information and challenge myself in a different way.
One thing that’s always put me off becoming an art therapist is that I’ve always felt that it would have a detrimental effect on being an artist and making work. Is this something you’ve found yourself?
It’s a case of making time. Also when people hear that I’m a qualified art therapist, and I get paid for doing that work, I think that they dismiss that I’m an artist. It’s as though you can’t be a serious artist if you’ve got a ‘good job’.
Do you find then that being an art therapist negates your position as an artist or vica versa?
I think I’m a better artist because of it, but I do think that people will take me less seriously as an artist in my own right.
Why do you think that is?
I think we like to put people into boxes. The thing is I’ve done loads of other jobs in the past alongside my art practice. So why can’t I be an art therapist and an artist? I think it has had an impact, people who’ve known me as an artist for more than 10 years have started to introduce me as an art therapist when I’ve only been working as an art therapist for a couple of years. They didn’t introduce me as a post lady, or a gallerist, but they’ve started introducing me as an art therapist. In fact I only do art therapy some of the time at work, a lot of time is spent in my current job on social art projects.
Are you happy with that balance or would you want to spend more time doing art therapy?
I am happy with that balance as the art psychotherapy is really interesting, but it’s quite emotional work as well and takes up a lot of your head, so it’s nice to be able to do other work that’s more action-based. I hope that for the rest of my life I’ll still be delivering art therapy, but I’d like it to be alongside other projects.
