Baltimore County, MD smARTS, 16 May 2017

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From YouTube: Art and Mental Health: smARTS Spring 2017

Description

Artist and psychologist Alice Dvoskin talks about the relationship between art and mental health.

A

( ♪♪♪ ).

A

Art has been called a window into the soul.

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With me on smarts to talk about art and soul,.

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Is artist and psychologist alice dvoskin.

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good to see you.

B

Nice to see you. thank you.

A

Let s talk a little bit.. You are an artist and a licensed psychologist correct., as I mentioned. so,. When people look at your work,, what do you think they understand.

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About you from your art?

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well,, I can t always say what I think they understand.

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What I d like them to understand. ( laughter, ), okay., all right., my work is very colorful and very bold,.

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In terms of color and brushstroke.,.

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So,, I d like them to see me as expressive, bold,.

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Willing to take chances., mm-hmm. and most important, enjoying it.

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I m playing when I m painting, as well.

A

Right. right. okay. that s very interesting.

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so, when you do paint-- and that s your medium, right?.

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Paint is correct., oil., okay. oil.. What do you think it does for your own mental health and your own awareness? okay. for me, it s therapy.

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( laughter, ) really.

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it s always been that through the course of my life.

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Even from the beginning,, I think it helped me deal with family issues when I was a child.

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But what s really special is that I m completely focused.

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So,, whatever else is going on in my life is not bothering me.

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It s not imposed on me.

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And it isn t that I m not working hard,, because I am.

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Black-Sotir: yeah. dvoskin:, but it s me and the canvas, and everything else is screened. Out.

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So, it s an acquired world.

A

Yeah. didn t winston churchill used to paint mm-hmm. to help relieve--. He actually suffered from some mental health issues,. Did he not?.

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I believe so... yeah.

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I m--, I can t say yeah., I think so,, but I know that he used painting—was a great.

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I mean talk about a man who was under a lot of pressure and stress.

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and he did. he painted a lot. yeah,. He did.

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And well. he did, very much so.

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Okay. so,: let s talk about how you see this relationship.

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Between art and mental health, and as a practicing psychologist,, you did for years..

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You re now retired., maybe some of that connection, as well.

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Okay. well, first of all,, I think that art can be--.

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Well,, you said window to the soul.

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in individuals who are, for whatever reason,.

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Not very verbal uh-huh.

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and the psychotherapy session is a verbal interchange, mostly.

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Yeah., but for children, in particular, or individuals that are somewhat resistant or shy,.

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It is a tool that you can use to understand.

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What they re feeling or experiencing.

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mm-hmm. children really respond very well to it.

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yeah. it s also--. I believe that the peace that the artwork,.

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The creativity is-- comes from the healthy part of the individual.

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Ahh,, a good connection, there. yes., yeah. so, for example,, you know,. We have this wonderful museum of visionary arts.

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Mm-Hmm. and the people have to be unsch-- unformal--.

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They re not formally trained in art, avam, yeah.

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And many are-- have mental illness, and--, but the work that they create.

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I ve always believed is-- comes from their health.

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Health. comes from the healthy part of the individual. right. right. so,. If you can nurture that,, I think then you can help the individual.

B

Okay. all right.

A

Well, again,, your work is fascinating, and this connection between the mind, art, expressiveness is wonderful,.

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And I know that you re painting a lot right now, yeah, I am., which is fantastic,, and we appreciate you taking a little bit of time to come and talk with us about this here on smarts..

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Thank you. So much, alice, dvoskin. oh,, you re very welcome. okay.. We want you to open your mind to art, and this is smarts,, the baltimore county arts, & culture, show.