How art and creative process impact us

A collection of my reflections and insights as I completed my certification as an Expressive Arts Facilitator. Here, I talk about art, the power of the creative process, and the changes it evokes from my personal experience.

Expressive arts: a mirror of life

Wherever you go, you take yourself with you, - Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

For me, the act of creating art is much like the experience of living life. But what exactly do I mean by that?

The expressive arts process encompasses everything life offers: beauty, moments of joy, challenges, and difficulties; presence, and those moments when our minds drift into autopilot. While entering the creative process, what you bring with you is yourself, including your fears, habits, and expectations - just as you do in everyday life. And guided by your inner desires you begin experimenting.

The creative process becomes your playground. This means the challenges you face are the same as those in your everyday life because it's you who entered this space, but they are easier to overcome because it's a play.

For example, if you easily become attached to something in life, that quality also shows up in the creative process. To learn what letting go feels like in a safe setting, you can play with breaking and reshaping your art piece, giving birth to new structures.

As you play, you will embody your inner strengths, helping the detachment process to happen, and see what new possibilities open up. Now, you will leave the creative process with the embodied experience that letting go is safe, it didn't harm you; on the contrary, it enriched you. With more practice in creative settings, this embodied knowledge becomes stronger, and you will apply it beyond art in various areas of your life.

While the challenges in art feel gentler due to the safe space than those found in real-life situations, the feeling of joy you experience is incredibly vibrant and satisfying. It's the same or even higher intensity of joy that we experience in our everyday lives, making art practice a powerful tool for enhancing our overall emotional well-being.

Rediscovering playfulness

Let me share a personal story that many can relate to: rediscovering my inner playfulness. With Expressive Arts, I rediscovered how to let go of being too serious and demanding of myself, which had prevented me from fully showing up in the world.

During the creative process, I let my inner child play freely, breaking free from the limits I put on myself. The result? I've recognised the value of doing things that 'make no sense', and 'are not helpful or necessary'. This brought me intense joy and reminded me of my childhood need to be seen and acknowledged. By following that need to satisfy it, I became more open, found the courage to be vulnerable, and revealed parts of myself I'd kept hidden. These insights brought me closer to myself and the people around me, creating a deeper sense of connection.

Conversation with subconscious

I find art expression to be a gentle and safe way to have a conversation with one's subconscious. It lets the inner voice speak and be heard, even if its messages are sometimes hard to interpret. However, I believe that interpretation is something our brains seek, whereas, for our inner voice, being heard matters more than being fully understood.

For more on this topic, you can read my article on intuitive painting.

Empowering authentic expression

A significant challenge we face in the creative process is self-criticism. Inner critic holds us back, and as it comes from our logical mind, which learned specific rules and patterns in order to feel safe.

We have incorporated this critic for many reasons: to help us discriminate aesthetically, to aid us in improving the way we approach a project, or to be useful people in society. But the inner critic is not useful when it puts shame, embarrassment, and terror into our lives. This prevents us from being creative. - Natalie Rogers, The Creative Connection, p. 21

One way to deal with inner critic is to focus on the process itself and follow the flow of your expression. Continuously checking in with yourself and your inner longings. You can ask your artwork what it needs to be fully expressed.

When we learn to acknowledge and accept our inner critic, allowing it to coexist with our creations, we discover liberation and self-acceptance. It's important to give our authentic expression a place and a voice. Creative process helps us develop bravery, enabling us to stay true to who we really are. In the right environment, it nurtures a space where we can explore our individuality and celebrate our uniqueness.

The beauty of authenticity

Discussing authenticity is closely linked to the entire concept of beauty. By practicing Expressive Arts, I've discovered that beauty isn't what I've been told it is. Beauty is not about pleasing myself or others by creating forms that are accepted as beautiful.

The Liminal - Expressive Arts Circle in Berlin

Now, beauty, for me, lies in daring to create whatever emerges from within me, without self-judgment or concern for prettiness. It is about being honest in my art, expressing a particular impulse in the present moment in the way it wants to be expressed, without blocking its natural flow (as long as it's not harmful to anyone).

Authentic art is also truly powerful for those who witness it because they sense its liveliness. They feel the emotion and impulse. Art doesn't need to be pleasing or sophisticated; it needs to be honest. In fact, a single stroke can be more touching and transformative than a fully painted picture created just to please audience.

Deepening awareness and connection

Regular expressive arts practice makes us more sensitive to what we see and feel, we become more attuned to the world around us. The creative process allows us to unearth new layers of reality and become more open to our inner feelings and external influences. We start to notice things that were once invisible, revealing hidden aspects of the world.

We learn to fully be in the moment, an ability to engage in the here and now. Art practice becomes a training ground for presence. It helps us deepen our understanding and connection both with ourselves and with the world around us, nurturing a strong sense of fulfilment.

Witnessing art: when it moves and transforms

The Liminal - Expressive Arts Circle in Berlin

Experiencing art through witnessing it can be a powerful and transformative experience too. Not all art affects us in the same way. Some artworks truly resonate with us on a deep level and can bring about significant changes within us, while others may not have the same effect.

I've realised that the extent of the impact of the artwork on us depends on whether its content or intention aligns with the yearnings of our soul. To put it simply, is it something that matters to us at this moment?

When an artist explores a topic, emotion, or experience that matches our inner feelings, we feel a strong resonance and are moved by their art. But if an artist delves into something unrelated, we tend to judge their work through the lens of conventional standards of beauty, seeing it as just another 'piece of art'.

We never exit the creative process the same as we entered

As I reflect on how expressive arts have impacted me, I've noticed some gradual shifts in me on this journey. Initially, I thought that expressive arts do not provide quick solutions, and that, for example, one session alone cannot solve a specific problem. However, upon deeper reflection, I realised that expressive arts do not offer quick solutions for our logical minds. Instead, they trigger changes in our subconscious, happening at their own pace. We might not immediately notice these changes because we may not be sensitive enough to perceive subtle shifts.

Another reason is that our logical mind lacks concrete proof that the change has happened. The self-knowledge gained during the creative process must be applied in real life; it must become our new quality for a visible change. Changing unhelpful habits takes time, and our mind recognises the transformation when it's reflected in our conscious reality.

We never exit the creative process the same as we entered. It's like opening a treasure box of new states, and what you find inside during your creative process is unique to your needs.

For some, it might be confidence; for others, playfulness.

With practice these newfound states gradually become more prominent within us and in our lives, evolving into our new traits.

State (how I am now) → Thoughts → Actions → Life Quality

And, as they do, they begin to shine in our everyday life.

Thanks for reading. Share your thoughts or questions in the comments - what resonated with you, what didn't? Your input helps us grow together.

Considering trying out Expressive Arts? Reach out to me for one-on-one or group sessions.