Emotion and Art

• Inner growth through art
• Why artists get stuck
• Finding yourself through art
• Traps that artists fall into
• Art and sex
• The three stages of art

In this highly original work, John Ruskan explores the intricacies of feeling-oriented art. He presents radical insights about the nature of the art process that explain exactly what it is that artists do, how they can do it better, and how to make art an essential route to enlightenment through revealing and integrating the personal subconscious.

This book is not just a rehash of old art therapy principles, but breaks new ground in the field. Experienced artists will be attracted to the original insights into artistic manic-depressiveness, the three stages of the art process, and recognizing the cut-off subconscious in the art through artistic projection.

Emotion and Art offers startling insights into the practical psychology of how to successfully be an artist. If you have been attracted to Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, you will find Emotion and Art to be of great value, since it offers complimentary, advanced guidance that will be essential after you have settled into serious work.

IN THIS BOOK:

Why it is so important for art to have a foundation in personal feeling, and how you can include this aspect in your work.

John's original three stages of art, based on the projection and retrieval of the subconscious, provide a road map for those traveling the glorious yet often perilous path of the artist, revealing those perils and how to avoid them.

How the creative force of sex can be infused into the art process, and how it can provide an explosion of creative energy instead of being an energy drain.

How to experience art, either as a viewer or creator, as a vital part of your evolutionary advancement.

Penetrating insights into creative blocking, the struggle for recognition, the emotional stress and loneliness of the artist and more.

excerpt:

ART THERAPY
Possibly as a result of the influence of art therapy, we now see a general emphasis in consciousness circles that "art heals." The same principles apply - uncover subconscious feelings through working in the art, become more in touch with the hidden self, increase sensitivity, and above all express yourself. It is assumed that expression of feeling is the antidote to suppression.

All this sounds good, and to a large extent, is good. People have been helped by this approach. However, something appears to be missing. When we look at artists as a whole, especially artists who have a dedicated, ongoing relationship with their work, who are "expressing" their feelings all the time, who are not just casually experimenting with first efforts, we are presented with a startling picture. We would expect serious artists to be the most psychologically healthy group around. Instead, we find just the opposite. Artists as a group are notoriously emotionally unstable, if not dysfunctional. There has always been the allowance for the eccentric artist, but what has not been so apparent is that the eccentricity is often only the reflection of deep pain within. If art heals, what has gone wrong?