Exploring Depression Through Art
"We don't expect you to 'analyze' or try to 'diagnose' the drawings. Rather, like any form of art, the most important condition we ask of you is to allow yourself to respond openly and without prejudgement. Certainly, some of the art may resonate with parts of you that are obvious, other art may tough emotions that are long buried or dormant or unnoticed. It is your job to attend to what the art is saying. Each of you is entitled to your singular response." - Robin F. Goodman , Ph.D., A.T.R. - BC Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery & Hope can be found in the University of Lethbridge library in the curriculum resources lab. Other libraries may have it as well and if not, it is available on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.ca/Childhood-Revealed-Expressing-Pain-Discovery/dp/0810941015).
Art can be used at any age group, you just need to modify how you approach it so this is a really great book and can be used to discuss other exceptionalities as well. Hopefully these activities can help build understanding and create empathy. Works Cited Koplewicz, Harold S., Robin F. Goodman, and Margery D. Rosen, eds. Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery & Hope. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1999. Print. |
This book, Childhood Revealed: Art Expressing Pain, Discovery & Hope, explores a lot of different exceptionalities through art, including autism, psychosis, ADHD and for our purposes, depression. Art can be an excellent outlet for people and therefore a way to experience what an artist feels and decides to show the world. The pictures in this book are created by students living with specific exceptionalities and include a small description and title on the bottom of each artistic representation. Some depictions are represented as paintings; some are clay models.
I would introduce the topic of depression very carefully into my classroom. I would mention that it is a sensitive topic and we would talk about our feelings and notions about it prior. As a class we would learn about depression and afterwards we would look at some of these depictions of depression in the book. Students can journal their responses to particular pieces if they are uncomfortable sharing them with the class. Afterwards, I would have the students create their own artistic rendition of depression and what it means to them, or what they learned about it either in a painting, picture, or clay model etcetera. They would also have the option of representing a difficult time they’ve had in life. They will be required to have a written section dedicated to why they chose what they did, and about what their representation means to them. Why did they pick those specific colors and what do they mean etc.? It would be necessary to inform students that they shouldn’t share anything they have a problem sharing because if it’s serious as a teacher I will be required to take appropriate measures if the circumstances call for it. I think the activity would be good for high school students because they can explore it artistically and not just learn the facts. They can empathize with others, who have experienced depression, through seeing their depictions and create their own afterwards. I also think that it would be a nice way of introducing an outlet to students who may need it, but may have never considered art before. Students may choose to share their art with other students if they would like and if they felt comfortable maybe even with the school, teaching other students about depression. As a follow up they could also auction their paintings and donate the money to organizations like Kids Help Phone. Most of the follow-ups would be based on student interest. I would, near the end, ask them what they learned about it and if it challenged any pre-existing ideas they had about depression as well. |