By Maria Scaros, Executive Director      |    November 1, 2020

On Friday, October 23rd The Greens at Greenwich and the Bruce Museum partnered once again for a very special program celebrating the arts and honoring the human spirit.  Maria Scaros, Executive Director, along with Beth Liebowitz, Program Director, both from The Greens at Greenwich and both licensed creative arts therapists, partnered with Corinne Flax, Manager of School and Community Partnerships at the Bruce to bring, “Take Another Look: Art as a Partner in Health.”

The virtual zoom experience, live from the museum, engaged audience members in taking a closer look at pieces of art to discover how they may provide insight to health and wellbeing.  Many people understand that art, be it visual, music, dance, or theater, offers a unique expression of our inner consciousness.  Maria and Beth looked at the art through the lens of creative arts therapists and invited the audience to share their personal viewpoint.  Although the prints were over 200 years old, participants found interesting perspectives about the time we are living in today and our feelings about the pandemic.  The artist creates not solely from their mind, but from their spirit, and the human spirit is a universal force.  By taking another look, perhaps we can connect to the soulful place in us that can help us better recognize who we are.

Art historians teach us of the artist and the color palette they use.  They may share a portion of the artist’s life in the time in which they lived and how they used their medium.  Creative arts therapists ask you to make the art personal.  This is your piece of art.  This is how you are feeling today.  Where are you on the canvas?  What is the message you hear in your heart and in your mind from this piece?  Because art speaks and touches more than the artist who creates it, it reinforces Carl Jung’s concept of the collective unconscious. It is that part of our ancestral memory and experience that is common to all humankind.  It is the arts, in all their forms, that speaks to our spirit, our energy, and our sense of being.

The creative arts therapy staff of The Greens at Greenwich will continue to collaborate with our neighbors at the Bruce Museum for the health, wellbeing, and celebration of the human spirit.  Please join us in January 2021 as we bring art to life with dance and music.