Again, for Darlene, the oil painting as a "salve" or "balm" for healing, a vision of beauty, refracted through her own deep gaze, is her stated intentionality in her craft.
Darlene Altemeier Dobbs. "Cousins". oil on canvas.
Perhaps for other artists their work is a cry of anguish, and through the cathartic expression of that cry, comes healing or validation.
Added to this is the complex phenomenon, often voiced through the history of Art Therapy, that although the artist might INTEND pure beauty in their work, it might still manifest their hidden, or not so hidden, pain.
This view might posit that the most idyllic painting of an envisioned Eden, might, in reality, communicate an actuality of a highly anquished, intensity of longing for such peace, in a world, where such peace is preciously hard to find.
Within the changing sphere of Art Therapy there has, however, been a shift away from the condescending viewpoint that the therapist has some special superior position from which to analyze the client's painting, or their life. The artist, or the human, is encouraged, supported, and strengthened in the interpretation of their own art, their own life, the finding of meaning that rings true to themselves.
At the Lamp Art Project there is no one "right" or "wrong" way to paint. If an artist cries, we hear. If they offer balm, we receive it.
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