Blog 4, December 2011

Meeting Joan Erikson in the spring of 1989 was an immensely important milestone in the development of my ideas about the value of using art forms to help people with psychiatric illness connect and find a place in the world.  We started communicating by letter about a year before and I finally worked up the courage to ask if she would be part of a film about her work.  My partner Les Nirenberg and I invited her to Toronto in June to shoot it - produced and directed by our company Mental Health Library.

Joan was born in Canada, had been away for over 70 years and relished the thought of a return visit. Her father had been an Anglican clergyman in Napanee and Joan’s early rebellious nature led her to run away from Bishop Strachan School in Toronto (she asked if we could drive past it on our way to the airport before she left) to explore the world of modern dance.  She met Erik, who was studying psychoanalysis with Freud, at a masked ball in Vienna and they married in 1930.  They came to the US in 1950; Erik taught at Harvard, Yale and University of California at Berkley, and for many years they led a bi-coastal life, balancing three children with their work. During the time spent at Berkley, they worked together on their eight-cycles of human development. which has maintained a central position in subsequent formulations of psychological theory.

In 1951 Erik was appointed Director at the Austen Riggs Centre in Stockbridge Mass and soon after, Joan became Director of Activities. In her characteristically modest way, she describes it ” Well, I was a wife and my husband went to work there so I looked around for something to do.”  Her humility didn’t in any way lessen her strong belief in the dignity of people with mental illness.  She always loved to say that in the studio sessions, “they aren’t patients, they’re artists, they shouldn’t be observed and diagnosed, they should be allowed to experiment, explore and enjoy themselves.”

At the time we met, I had been working on the inpatient psychiatry unit at Toronto General Hospital for about five years, involving students from the Ontario College of Art, writers through a Canada Council program and dancers from York University in sessions with our patients.  I was establishing my ideas about the value of what these individual artists contributed and defining the difference between what we were doing and art, dance or music therapy - valuable disciplines but not what was needed in our setting.  Meeting Joan Erikson not only introduced me to the pure joy of her wonderfully generous and imaginative spirit but also provided me with a very solid framework of support for the use of creative activities so I could move ahead with energy and confidence.

The wisdom of her perceptions lingers with me from many of the conversations we had both on and off camera.  She spoke often of the importance of play, how we as adults need to maintain our ability to play in order to be creative, and how children must be allowed time to play so they can develop the strength and potential of their imaginations and their inner worlds. She also had very clear notions about the value of art forms in and of themselves, not as diagnostic tools, but as a way to make connections with the environment by exploring colour, shape, form and technique, and most of all, as a way to have fun.

As well as fostering creativity in other people, Joan was a practicing artist; her jewelry has been exhibited at MoMA; she wrote poetry and was the author of seven books… and she always moved with the willowy grace of a dancer!  My last visit with her was in the summer of 1996 at her home on Cape Cod.  She died in 1997 at 95, leaving all of us who were fortunate enough to know her richer for her friendship and inspiration.

Les Nirenberg died in January 2010, I miss both his collaboration and his formidable sense of humour.

This blog is dedicated with great fondness to them both.
Thanks once again to John Bilodeau.

Blog 1 September 2011

Welcoming artists into out-of-the-way places has been on my mind and in my heart for about a quarter of a century - measuring time in fractions of a century is a useful worldview in many ways. This brand new blog is going to take you to a different place each month to visit artists bringing their art form to people who wouldn’t have the experience otherwise.  Our times are getting leaner and meaner and I’m feeling like a shove back is in order to support and promote this kind of program - inspired a bit by Jack Layton, so here goes…

Every Friday morning the usual hospital sounds in the halls of the Toronto Grace Health Centre are mingled with the sounds of the guitars, keyboards and voices of Improm2Crew, the Grace’s small, dynamic house band.  Made up of young musicians, some formally trained, some students in other fields, the Crew members bring both their enthusiasm for engaging the Grace patients and for making music together. “For a few moments, a small world is created where people sing, laugh and are carefree…a welcome break from the realities of hospital life…and from the stresses and strains of University,” says Danny, who’s preparing to study medicine.

Residents at the Grace receive long term, complex care, rehabilitation and palliative care. Music is just one facet of Arts at the Grace, the brainchild of Michael Fliess, Director of Volunteer Resources.  Michael trained as an artist and brings his creative sensibility to making use of the many and varied skills present in the volunteer group.

Of all the art forms though, music seems to be the one that touches people’s souls most deeply regardless of language, cognitive or physical difficulties, age or background.  “That little band has meant so much to John – and to me” a woman told me after one of the sessions.  Her husband had lost the ability to move most of his body and to speak, but his face always lit up when the music began. My attention was caught another day by an elderly woman sitting quietly in her wheelchair tapping her fingers and whispering all the words to a romantic ballad along with the vocalist.  I spent a few moments wondering what long-ago dance or party she was remembering and couldn’t help singing along with her. 

                                                                              

“I love to see the smiles on people’s faces…it reminds me that it’s the small things in life that are really important.” says Jong, who began the group three years ago and who hopes to enter medical school next year.
Mee-ju, one of the vocalists, told me about a woman who always asks her to sing Earth Angel, a song her brother used to sing to her when he was a young man.  Music stirs memory, taking people back to a more carefree time and  giving them a chance to feel both the happiness and the sorrow that make up all our lives. 

The musicians love the opportunity to hone their skills at performing for an audience.  Diana found it a huge help in preparing for her Piano Performing exam at the Conservatory, “I wasn’t nervous at all when I stepped into the exam…it felt just like another Friday at the Grace,” she told me. Even professional musicians (a few have come to do guest spots) love the chance to improvise with young musicians and to perform for very appreciative people. Sessions are held in an open foyer, so staff , visitors and family members can stop to listen on their way past.  Visiting someone in a hospital can be difficult and it’s helpful. to have something normal and positive to enjoy together.

Very much a win/win situation, a program like this is relatively easy to begin and administer  and costs very little.  Although the talent isn’t paid in dollars, as the remarks above indicate, the rewards are priceless and the value of having these young people starting out  their lives and careers with a commitment to make the world a better place for a few people for an hour every week gives me some hope for the future.

And how we all need that, see you next month.

Watch for the next post in late October, which will feature Camille Winchester, a ceramic artist working with marginal women. Feel free (in fact obliged) to let people who might be interested know about this blog.
Many thanks to John Bilodeau for his technical help.