1st Edition
Craft in Art Therapy Diverse Approaches to the Transformative Power of Craft Materials and Methods
Craft in Art Therapy is the first book dedicated to illustrating the incorporation of craft materials and methods into art therapy theory and practice.
Contributing authors provide examples of how they have used a range of crafts including pottery, glass work, textiles (sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, and quilting), paper (artist books, altered books, book binding, origami, and zines), leatherwork, and Indian crafts like mendhi and kolam/rangoli in their own art and self-care, and in individual, group, and community art therapy practice. The book explores the therapeutic benefits of a range of craft materials and media, as well as craft’s potential to build community, to support individuals in caring for themselves and each other, and to play a valuable role in art therapy practice.
Craft in Art Therapy demonstrates that when practiced in a culturally sensitive and socially conscious manner, craft practices are more than therapeutic—they also hold transformational potential.
CONTENTS
List of Figures and Tables
List of Contributors
Introduction
PART I
Craft as a Tool for Transformation and Self-Care
1 Crafting the Artist Book as Embodied, Relational Practice
Lynn Kapitan
2 Healing With Fire: The Use of Hot Glass in Art Therapy
Jessica Woolhiser Stallings and Stephanie Clark
3 From Clay to Ceramic: An Alchemical Process of Self-Transformation
Joshua Kin-man Nan
4 Demystifying the Individualistic Approach to Self-care: Sewing as a Metaphorical Process for Documenting Relational and Communal Care in Disability Culture
Chun-shan (Sandie) Yi
5 Emptying the Jar: Crochet to Unpack Toxic Racial Stress
Marilyn Holmes
PART II
Craft as Culturally Resonant and Accessible
6 Embroidering Pieces of Place
Eliza S. Homer
7 Healing Roots of Indigenous Crafts: Adapting Traditions of India for Art Therapy Practice
Krupa Jhaveri
8 Integrating Traditional Crafts within Clinical Practice: A Cross-Cultural Group Case Study
Mahesh Iyer
9 Using Crafts in Art Therapy Through an Intersectional Feminist Empowerment Lens: The Case of Bedouin Embroidery in Israel
Michal Katoshevski and Ephrat Huss
PART III
Craft as Empowerment and Activism
10 Finding Our Way Together: Exploring the Therapeutic Benefits of Collaborative Craft Activism
Lauren Leone
11 Zines, the DIY Ethic, and Empowering Marginalized Identities
Joe Mageary
12 Alone in the Desert: Making Sense of the Senseless Through Story Cloths
Lisa Raye Garlock
13 Empowerment Through Mentorship: Peer-Led Craft Workshops in a Forensic Psychiatric Hospital
Jaimie Peterson and Alison Etter
14 Queer Ethos in Art Therapy
Mikey Anderson
15 Quilting Across Prison Walls: Craftwork, Social Practice, and Radical Empathy
Savneet Talwar and Rachel Wallis
Index
Biography
Lauren Leone, DAT, ATR-BC, LMHC, is an assistant professor of art therapy at Lesley University, maintains a private practice, and facilitates a community-based art therapy group. Her research interests include the therapeutic benefits of craft activism and how emancipatory pedagogy informs art therapy practice and education.
"Anyone interested in the use of craft practices in therapy will be thrilled to discover the dynamic collection of chapters found in this book! Lauren Leone has edited a must-read text that delves into the processes, practices, and politics of crafting. The contributors raise critical questions for art therapists interested in expanding their understanding of traditional and contemporary crafts as vehicles for personal, interpersonal, and social transformation."
Catherine Hyland Moon, MA, ATR-BC, professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and editor of Materials and Media in Art Therapy: Critical Understandings of Diverse Artistic Vocabularies
"Lauren Leone is a gifted writer/editor, art therapist, and fiber artist whose collection disrupts the notion that only the fine arts media are used by art therapists. This engaging, enjoyable book connects craft history with a wide variety of craft media to inform art therapy practice and research. The book’s contributors bring unique, personal examples from their own experiences and approaches to craft, layering historical and contemporary craft practices with personal, clinical, and activist applications. Craft in Art Therapy should be required reading for all art therapy curricula."
Holly Feen-Calligan, PhD, ATR-BC, associate professor of Art Therapy, Wayne State University
