3-2 Activity: Critical Analysis: Engage
Tiffany Jorden
Southern New Hampshire University
IDS402: Wellness
Stephanie L. Burke
September 18, 2022
3-2 Activity: Critical Analysis: Engage
Art is important to people from all walks of life. We have noted scholars, those of
working or low classes, and even adversaries who have introduced art to the masses. Art affects
everyone, whether they know it or not. The same can be said for art therapy. Art therapy can be
utilized by many people for many reasons. Additionally, art and art therapy can be used to impact
various institutions around the world. For example, arts impact on the institution of politics and
art therapy's impact on the institution of education. We also see that an area of which art therapy
can benefit from change being that of its availability to those who may benefit from it.
Art has held a place in politics for as long as both elements have been relevant. We note
that art can be used to push ideals that correspond with certain political beliefs. When detailing
the resistance in Germany, specifically that against governmental oppression, art can be seen at
the forefront of the fight. Deborah Ascher Barnstone and Elizabeth Otto (2019) state, "while
artistic interventions may not eliminate offensive political groups or politicians, they help diffuse
tensions and raise awareness, and they may also increase participation from people who are
reluctant to engage in overt political demonstrations but wish to have their resistance and
opposition recognized." We must note that art has always had a way of pushing messages onto its
viewers, and the fight for resistance and political ideologies is no difference.
Additionally, art therapy has been seen to pose great success when impacting the field of
education since its dawning in America. Born in 1890s New York, Margaret Naumburg is
credited for being the "mother of art therapy" after founding the Walden School with an
emphasis on art as a form of therapy, believing that it could be used to not only diagnose mental
illness but treat them as well (Junge, 2010). Naumburg started a movement of therapeutic uses
for art, which is still active today. Naumburg believed that the use of art therapy in schools could
promote emotional intelligence, as well as alleviate mental ailments that posed a threat to
student's success in school (Junge, 2010). Art therapy impacts the institution of education by
providing assistance with elements that regular school practices may not be able to assist. For
example, a child with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, may not be able to vocalize their
emotions. However, with art therapy, they may be able to express those emotions through the art
they create which lends an eye into their thought processes for their teachers and
paraprofessionals.
Art therapy is important for many of the reasons listed above and many more that may
not have been seen yet. The aspect of which art therapy could benefit from change would be its
availability in places where it i