“Art holds space. Art holds shadow. Art holds light. Art awakens creativity in order to find imaginative solutions to dilemmas, problems, and difficulties. Art holds resonance. When you go out and teach one person how to express their pain and suffering, this act sends out a wave of healing, as that one person goes back to their families, to their friends, to their communities. As you teach that one person how to live with uncertainty, to take healthy risks, to learn how to channel their anger and rage and deep sadness, and embrace healthier ways of living, this one gesture has an effect on the whole; it creates a sympathetic resonance, a wave of change, that touches all in its wake.”

Mitchell Kossak is truly a guiding light in this field – an international presenter, professional musician, expressive arts therapist, university professor, massage therapist and bodyworker, and author of Attunement in Expressive Arts Therapy: Towards an Understanding of Embodied Empathy (2015).

Mitchell  is coming to Sarasota to give a public workshop on March 4.

Details and registration here.

Over the next few weeks, we will share with you some excerpts from our conversations, as part of our Expressive Arts in the World Blog Series.

“We are living in interesting times. In the past five years I have taught and given workshops in China, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Israel, Guatemala, Peru, and Argentina. In all of my travels and teachings I find a similar theme. The arts have the capacity to awaken our sensibilities and inform us how to live more fully and in the moment. The expressive arts can help teach productive ways of how to be more awake and to feel attuned the world around us. Art helps us to rise above the fear and uncertainty. More than ever there is a need for waves of hope and healing and imagining harmony in our hearts and in our communities.”

Watch this short video, created by IEATA,  introducing you to Mitchell’s work.

More coming soon!

Kathleen, Victoria, Tamara

www.expressiveartsflorida.com