Friday (3/12) and Saturday (4/12) the Faculty of Psychology UGM held a Theraupetic Art-Making and Gift-Giving event. Therapeutic Art is a psychological therapy or self-healing through art media. This limited offline event is a series of events for the 57th Anniversary of the Faculty of Psychology UGM. The location of this event is in the canteen of the Faculty of Psychology UGM.
On the first day the event took place at 9.00 AM – 11.30 AM and was attended by 21 participants from lecturers and education staff of the Faculty of Psychology UGM. While on the second day the event took place at 10.00 AM – 13.00 AM and was attended by 16 participants from students and alumni of the Faculty of Psychology UGM.
The guest stars at this event were Ardhana Riswarie, M.A., AThR, Art Theraphist of Fine Arts and Design from ITB. This Master of Art Psychotherapy graduate from Goldsmith, University of London presented to participants the basic concepts of art therapy and invited participants to practice making color strokes using brushes and painting paints.
“It’s the same with sports. It’s the body, if it’s a sport, you have to train it. You also have to practice the taste, “explained Ardhana while emphasizing that art must also have clear boundaries so that it is more useful and on target.
In producing works of art, Ardhana also advised participants not to worry about the final result of the images they made. Ardhana advised the participants to be as comfortable as possible and enjoy the process of creating them. Participants are advised to focus more on what is done rather than pursuing the end result.
“In our lives, there is nothing that we plan for, and (the result) can be 100 percent according to what we planned. He’s always random, we always get random, we always get messy. It can be neat and then messy again. Now it’s the same as a work of art,” said Riswarie.
After the practice session was over, Ardhana guided the participants to meditate to the accompaniment of a song. Ardhana invites participants to absorb the meaning of the song and feel the sensation felt from listening to the song. Next, Ardhana invited the participants to interpret the sensations during meditation and listen to music with freedom of expression with a brush and paint on a canvas bag.
According to the imagination of each participant, all participants expressed it with various pictures. Some draw bamboo, stairs, faces, to abstract color combinations. Ardhana allowed participants to be creative by mixing colors and using brush stroke techniques.
In the last session, after all the paintings were finished, participants wrapped their work in gift boxes and exchanged their work with other participants based on their random choice of names. In the gift box, participants included a letter containing a message and a reflection on the picture. This is in accordance with Ardhana’s message to always give time at the end for reflection and take meaning from the work created.
In carrying out offline events during this pandemic, there are indeed some obstacles due to restrictions on the consequences of health protocols that must be obeyed. One of them is the inability to accept all registrants to be able to take part in this event.
“The challenge is actually more about the quota. So actually the enthusiasm is very high. Yesterday there were 48 people on the waiting list, while there were only 20 slots. So that’s the challenge. We have not been able to facilitate many people to join this event. Even though the enthusiasm is very high,” explained Chika, the coordinator of this Therapeutic-Art and Gift-Giving event.
Despite some limitations and obstacles, the event continued smoothly and lively. The concept of a neat and mature event in this event was able to provide a positive and enjoyable artistic experience for the participants.