Therapeutic Art
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| Charcoal on 8.5 x 11 paper - Mary Catherine D'Agostino |
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| Charcoal on 8.5 x 11 paper - Mary Catherine D'Agostino |
I’ve
spoken about what art is and where we see art and now I’d like to talk about
how art has had an effect on me personally.
Everyone knows artists to be these deep emotional kinds of people. I think the reason why people see artists
this way is because every artist in some way uses their art as an outlet. As Twyla Tharp said “Art is the only way to
run away without leaving home.”
As I
mentioned in my biography my passion for art became much stronger when I
entered my teenage years due to unfortunate events that occurred in my life. It was just about a month after I turned 14
and I found out that my father had stage four throat cancer. You could only imagine the horrified shock I
went into upon hearing this tragic news.
My dad chased monsters from the dark for me, he even checked underneath
my bed for me, he could lift me with one arm way up over his head, he pulled splinters from his hand
and never even flinched. To hear that my
superman was about to fight the biggest battle of his life was scary but I was
going to be by his side through it all.
Once this journey began things got harder and scarier along the way and
to be honest the only way I knew how to deal with it was through my art.
Yes I
could have cried non-stop or became bitter and angry at the fact that this
happened and ask the big question of why? Why did this have to happen? Why him? Though the way I looked at it was, doing any of that wouldn’t have changed
anything. I needed to be strong for my
dad just like he had always been for me, so when I did get emotional and I
needed to let out my pain or anger I started to draw. I began to do this on a daily basis. I would close my eyes take a deep breath and
let my hand connect with the paper.
Drawing became therapeutic for me because it enabled me to express my
feelings in ways that words could not.
With a
new found determination to not only help myself cope with hard times but also
the desire to help others carry on through hard times I developed a new
dream. I dreamed to one day create a charitable
organization that would incorporate art as a form of therapy with a particular focus on children and
teenagers. For me art has served as a way of getting past challenges and
has helped me see the world with a more brighter, colourful outlook, despite
the hardships others and I have encountered. Sometimes it’s the struggles
you encounter that enable your life to transform into something beyond
normalcy, into what can only be described as wondrous.
