Whether it's painting a portrait or singing your favorite song, art is known to be helpful in easing the pain of those struggling with their mental health. Especially now, when the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in self-quarantining and stay-at-home mandates, art can alleviate the stress and anxiety many feel when confined to their homes. Here are a few easy and accessible ways people can stimulate their minds through creative expression.
Painting: Free-form and limitless, this form of art involves the use of a paints to create a picture on a blank canvas with the help of certain tools, like paintbrushes or your fingers. Painting gives people who practice it a sense of great freedom, seeing as there is no limit to what they want to imagine and create. Types of art therapy techniques involving painting include acrylic paints, watercolors, spray painting, and much more.
Drawing: Similar to painting, drawing is a form of art that gives people the freedom to imagine whatever they want, allowing them to express their thoughts and feelings by simply scribbling or creating complex characters. Supplies artists can use include pens, pencils, crayons, charcoal, markers, and other tools that can mark up paper surfaces. Unlike painting, however, drawing supplies are generally easier to use and control, which provides those who don't believe they're good at art a simpler medium for creative expression.
Photography: This digital form of art provides people with a way to express their emotions using technology. Photography involves the taking and manipulation of images using a device with a camera, like a smartphone, polaroid, DSLR, and more. People can also pose for pictures, analyze compositions, or simply imagine the images they would capture if they can't access technology. This pastime allows people to utilize their surroundings, as well as past memories and current experiences, to convey what they feel.
Collaging: By finding and cutting up pictures that represent certain emotions, or just inspire creativity, people can utilize images to convey their thoughts when using words may be too difficult. Collaging is a more passive type of art therapy since it involves the use of already created images, which doesn't stimulate the mind as much as other forms of art. But this creative pastime doesn't require the applicant to have any prior artistic knowledge, incorporating magazine clippings, movie tickets, family photographs, and other everyday items into a type of artistic expression.
Performing Arts: Easily the most accessible form of art, the performing arts include utilizing singing dancing, or acting as an emotional outlet. Whether it's performing live for an audience or just keeping it personal, this technique of artistic expression allows people to use words and actions to express their feelings, instead of the tactile tools that photography, collaging, drawing, and painting all require. There are also many subcategories of this particular type of art, ranging diversely from region to region, as seen between hip-hop music and traditional folk dances. Especially during current conditions, performing arts can help people feel less lonely by taking part in a feel-good pastime.
So if the tragic circumstances surrounding COVID-19 leave you feeling down, stressed, or anxious, grab a paintbrush, start a photoshoot with your pets, scribble in your notebook, or belt out today's top hits if you can. These art forms can ease your struggles and help your mental health by providing you with an easy emotional outlet of creative expression.
Written by: Kruthi Gollapudi, Publicist
Comments