The Healing Arts

Thanks for another inspiring piece.

This post reminds me of an Ani DiFranco lyric: "Art is why I get up in the morning, but my definition ends there." I used to have that pasted on my dorm room wall in college!

This is a very sad story of what is most probably someone with chronic mental illness. For most of us healthy artists I hope art is one of many good things experienced in this world. Serious mental illness should not be idealized or romanticized,ever. Sincerely,David

Thank you, Cathy, for all the work you do with the creative arts. It's wonderful to celebrate that which is positive about humanity: the ability to create and inspire.

I used to paint all through high school, and I remember sitting as though time stood still having more focus than I've ever known doing anything else.

Realizing that computer-generated art was seeming to take over more traditional methods, and having somewhat of an aversion to computers and fearing financial instability, I sadly stopped pursuing the arts for several years.

With or without the excellence of computer-generated art, it's still AMAZING and inspiring to walk the halls of museums or to walk along the sidewalks where people are displaying hand-made art. I suppose using a computer is still "by-hand" and is certainly art, but something about actually holding a brush is very satisfying for me. (Perhaps this is a caveman attribute ;)

I've been meaning to check out a figure-drawing class nearby. Perhaps this will be a good idea for me as I seem to have a lot of energy that needs to be focused on "creating" and it doesn't seem to matter "what". Might as well be naked people :)

Thanks
YG

Cathy,

Thank you for this story and all of your excellent blogs!

Happy New Year!
Laura

Peter d. kramer writes what depression is at great length,and documents ostensible symptoms, doing its most damage to a persons emotions.I personally know and love the people in my life who have mental illness,but i also know their are many things i experience that they cannot feel. I think it's fair to assume someone who doesn't desire a home,a spouse (loved one) or care about their appearance, emotionally is dysfunctional. These people deserve the best medicine available. But i refuse to normalize their emotional aberrations. Sincerely,David

Another quick mention about latter stages of chronic depression.It may be easier to idealize the depressed if they remain docile and affable in their delusion but if they then become psychotic we think of them as something else.To ontologically superimpose our emotion onto the mentally ill is the fools game of mysticism. Thanks for all your personal responses. Sincerely,David

Thank you for this creative arts. It was very inspiring.

This story was very interesting. I think Mirikitani from one sense is right when he says "Art is the only thing that's left in the world." Wars, racism, death, and abuse of power sometimes seems to have polluted everything good in this world. People today have become less focused on being loving social human beings, to busy, non emotional, working, human do-ers.
When life shows you it's ugly side, being able to express yourself may seem the only good thing there is. And even then sometimes people do not feel that their self-expression has any worth.
Regardless of whether this man is considered mentally disturbed or not, at least he has something to hold onto that plainly gives him a sense of worth and purpose.
I agree that mental illness should not be idealized or romanticized, but does not mental illness come from a feeling of self-worthlessness, and purposelessness, two things that making art can give someone? I know that mental illness can come from a number of different causes, don't get me wrong.
My point is that, the video and article were mostly commenting on the fact that this man had a rough life (that maybe made him mental) and the act of creating art may help him recover some of his emotional, mental, and physical health. If this article is "romanticizing" anything, it is the affect of art on people, not people with mental disorders. And I do not think the good affect of art on people implied in this article was romanticized, just to be clear.
Cathy thank you for such a enlightening and thought-provoking article. Art will forever continue to be a way for people to communicate, express themselves, and bring health to themselves and others.