Suzanne Isken: Art Opens Doors to Others and Can Heal Society
Four years before we went home and locked our doors for four months, a 2016 New York Times title article proclaimed, “How Social Isolation is Killing Us” The article enumerated dire physical, mental and emotional consequences of isolation. At the beginning of the pandemic, I was focused on how many people turned to “making” as a means of coping with stress and uncertainty, filling their time in ways that were satisfying and productive. People around me were self-medicating with craft.
As we work to maintain our health, l note that the World Health Organization defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Art helps people express experiences that are too difficult to put into words. Creative activity can relieve stress, anxiety and emotions associated with fear and trauma and result in a clear head for coping. I have witnessed the powerful work of psychoanalyst Esther Dreifuss-Kattan in her Cancer and Creativity program, where cancer patients use artmaking to process the trauma of cancer treatment and living with cancer. Art practice can give meaning to a person's life and reduce social isolation, especially for older adults. I have been awed by joyful stories of personal creativity, having seen the magnificent sci-fi drawings of the man who repairs our security system, the napkin drawings of the construction worker who once helped us build a storage shed and the now full-time ceramic practice of a former business owner whose retirement had sent her into a depressed state and in search for purpose. Many people said they would hang on to their new quarantine-inspired art practice even after this virus has subsided because it gives them so much relief and peace.
I have been inspired by the diverse crowd who attend craft nights at Craft Contemporary. They have nothing and everything in common when they sit together to create a print, a weaving or pots from clay. Engaging with art is not a solitary event. Arts and culture represent one of the few ways that people today come together to share an experience even if they do not initially see the world in the same way.
Years ago, several of us set out to understand what arts education can accomplish. We learned that arts provide experiences in which participants are encouraged to ask complex questions and withhold judgment until they explore multiple possible meanings. We learned that art appreciation entails the essential element of being able to consider what someone else is feeling and communicating. Arts participation contributes to the development of empathy. Empathy is key to our survival and to rebuilding. In a 2016 address to the World Economic Forum, artist Olafur Eliasson remarked that one of the great challenges today is that we often feel untouched by the problems of others and by global issues. "We do not feel strongly," he said, "that we are part of a global community." He goes on to remind us that art can connect us to our senses and make us feel the experience of being part of the world. At Craft Contemporary, I have personally witnessed the emotional reaction and new understandings elicited by U.S. military veteran artists when creating art about their combat experiences. I have seen museum visitors in tears viewing Betye Saar's washboards, which reference the damages of racial oppression in America. Feelings elicit thinking, engagement and often action. Artists have the capacity to create emotional and transformative experiences that help us know and understand in a way that statistics cannot convey.
Art supports creative thinking. It encourages us to see that there is no one answer or one way to solve a problem — in other words, there is more than one way out of this mess. Can we apply these principles to the challenges of this moment? What would the world look like if we all listened, paid attention to detail and were open to alternative meanings and solutions? What if we all saw the possibilities of feeling and understanding another’s experience? In 2009-2010, we [i]used these ideas to train USC medical students in the galleries of the Museum of Contemporary Art. The idea was that a proper diagnosis required empathy and contemplation of several possibilities before picking a treatment direction. What would the world look like if we all listened, paid attention to detail and were open to meanings and solutions outside our initial assumptions? What if we all saw the possibilities of understanding another's experience? Participating in the arts is a powerful way to develop the skills of empathy and problem-solving.
Now, the arts community is facing economic challenges. Previous economic downturns have translated to cuts in arts and culture and drastic cuts to school art programs. There is once again the danger that arts education and arts access will be limited to those with the deepest pockets. The arts are essential to our ability to cope, to learn to understand one another and to heal. Art can unite disparate communities and deepen our human relationships. Art builds empathy and a sense of hope. Your participation in the arts is an important part of rebuilding our city and ourselves.
[i] I worked with two faculty members at USC on this particular project. Pamela Schaff, MD and Robert Tager, MD. The work to understand what arts education could teach was an internal study by MOCA that included Jeanne Hoel, Victoria Stevens, PhD and myself with assistance from educator JoAnn Isken.
Top Image: A woman looks at a Tim Washington sculpture at Craft Contemporary | Ryan Mill
