Announcing ART THERAPY WORKSHOP: Stepping Out of the Frame (6-week program)

The Sun Valley Center for the Arts is pleased to announce a new museum-based art therapy program, “Stepping Out of the Frame,” designed especially for adults living with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. During the free six-week program, which will be held 1:30–3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays between July 23 and Aug 29, participants will explore The Center’s summer visual arts exhibition Mirage: Energy and Water in the Great Basin through therapeutic art experiences both inside and outside the museum. The program builds upon The Center’s mission of enriching the community through transformational arts and educational experiences.

Art therapy is an integrative practice that enriches the lives of individuals, families and communities through active art-making. Activities are facilitated by a professional art therapist and are designed to improve cognitive and sensory-motor functions, foster self-esteem and self-awareness, cultivate emotional resilience, promote insight, enhance social skills, and reduce and resolve internal and external conflicts. Museum-based art therapy is a collaboration between art therapy and art education in which the museum (in this case, The Center) operates as a space for participants to experience inclusivity, community, and opportunities for learning and exploration while the art therapy catalyzes healing, transformation and expression through the experiences within the museum.

The Center’s art therapy pilot program is designed for adults with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. Extensive research in the art therapy field has been done with this population, specifically in museum settings. Following the lead of many larger metropolitan museums, The Center is proud to implement its own art therapy program and share the innovative practice’s many benefits with members of the Wood River Valley community.

“I became interested in the profound possibilities that museum-based art therapy has to offer as a first-year graduate student, and I have since dedicated much of my academic research and professional development to designing and promoting those benefits with a wide range of populations,” said Jordyn Dooley, Art Enrichment Coordinator at The Center, who holds a master’s degree in art therapy from Florida State University. “I have seen firsthand how the power of placing a handmade image on the wall of a museum offered the opportunity for an adolescent boy, who had never been into a museum, the chance to claim the space as his own and elevate his art to that of a professional artist. I have listened to women in their eighties with dementia discuss and appreciate abstract and controversial student artwork, demonstrating that no one is too old to broaden their scope and communicate their opinions. The museum is a space free of stigma and open to all, and we at The Center want to open the floor for discussion and the exchange of ideas to everyone.”

Pre-registration for The Center’s museum-based art therapy program is required, but there is no fee to participate. Participants should plan to commit to all weekly sessions in order to gain the maximum educational and therapeutic benefit. To reserve a space in the program and for more information, visit www.sunvalleycenter.org or call 208.726.9491.