“Art is to console those who are broken by life.” - Vincent Van Gogh
On a Wednesday morning, Amber Keaton set out square wooden canvases and paintbrushes at each seat in ASIA’s conference room for the very first session of Relax and Renew: Art as Stress Relief. Amber is an art therapy student at Ursuline College with a passion for supporting Akron’s newcomer community by creating space for expression and mental health. This year, she is partnering with ASIA to host art as therapy sessions every other Wednesday into the spring.
"I believe in the power of the arts to be a conduit or modality of healing for all people, so this program is borne out of a desire or a knowing that art transcends language and context, and we can use art to learn self-regulation and coping skills.”
Aurimar joined ASIA's first art therapy session with her husband and four-year-old son on February 12th. Her son happily picked out the colors for her to mix and paint with as she mused on the first prompt of the series: painting your safe and happy place.
"I think a starry night sky is the most beautiful art,” she said.
Her family is from Venezuela and has been living in Akron for a little over nine months. She joined Relax and Renew to help with stress relief and enjoy time with her family. Although she said that she had little experience with art or painting, she was excited to experiment with the different brushes to create the effect of a star-strewn night sky. All the while as she painted, she smiled brightly and shared her paints with her child.
Joining her from the Democratic Republic of Congo was Samuel, who painted the flag of his home country. “It’s what makes me happy,” he mused. He too shared that he was not usually one to paint, but at the end of the hour expressed how he wished that the session could last longer so that he could paint for longer.
As the community members painted everything from coffee mugs to roses, Amber engaged with them about the subject of their art and why it makes them happy. She also led the participants through breathing exercises with the visual aid of roses.
"Our voices are expressed through our work.” I went from art to behavioral health because I was doing art in the community and it was very healing and I thought, if I just had the framework to facilitate, so it’s been very organic all around, so I’m really excited for this.”
Relax and Renew: Art as Stress Relief is made possible by Artsnow’s ArtsForward grant. Sessions take place in ASIA’s Akron office located at 370 E Market St, Akron, OH 44304. We host two sessions a day at 10AM-11AM and 4:30PM-5:30PM on the following Wednesdays:
March 12
March 26
April 9
April 23
May 7
You can register here to participate at no cost.