THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 25, 1996 TAG: 9604250026
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ELIZABETH SIMPSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
THE PAINTINGS take you through an emotional journey of a man abused as a child.
Jagged, red-and-black lines of anger. Calming, green-and-blue waves of peace. Yellow-and-orange spirals of hope.
``My work is about process,'' Robert Fears has written beneath one of his paintings. ``The process of uncovering. The process of healing. The process of learning who I am.''
For Fears, art is therapy, and as such, a personal and private affair. But Friday, his paintings and drawings will go public, as part of an exhibit called ``A Celebration of Healing, 1996.''
The art show by survivors of sexual abuse is in its fourth year. The idea began when a group of local therapists were so impressed by their clients' artwork they decided to put the paintings and drawings on display at The Barry Robinson Center, a treatment center for troubled children in Norfolk.
The therapists had no idea what to expect when they put the word out that first year. To their surprise, artwork and poetry poured in.
Paintings, drawings, weavings, crayon markings, sculptures - even doll houses. They ranged from the expert hands of professional artists to the childlike drawings of first-time art exhibitors.
The show has since become an annual affair.
This year, for the first time, the show will include artwork that's fresh off the palette. Lucille Stubbs, a local art therapist, will conduct a workshop tonight to help six to eight sexual assault victims work through issues of abuse through art.
Some of the resulting artwork will be on display during the show, which will open to the public Friday and Saturday.
Fears will be taking part in tonight's workshop. The Virginia Beach mental health worker has been working on his own abuse issues through art therapy for about three years.
``The first time my therapist suggested I start drawing, I said, `I can't even draw stick figures.' She said, `That's fine, just start scribbling.' ''
And scribble he did.
By the third drawing, he began to experience feelings he'd never had in almost 20 years of therapy.
``It stirs up an intense, emotional feeling,'' he said. ``There's a shivering that happens deep inside. A trembling, as if I were shivering with cold, only inside.''
Fears said he believes he's come further, faster, through his art than through other therapeutic methods.
Stubbs said art therapy often helps clients who are trying to block out memories because it allows them to put on paper an experience or feeling they're trying to forget.
``It distances them,'' she said. ``They don't have to go through the pain of the experience again.''
Art therapy is being used by more and more people, said Stubbs, who graduated in 1991 from an art therapy program at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and who practices in Norfolk and Virginia Beach.
But the general public still has many misconceptions about the method. Many people, for instance, think you have to have some kind of artistic ability to try art therapy.
``It's not really about being creative as much as it's about expressing yourself,'' Stubbs said. ``Once you start the process, you become more and more creative. And if you can create art, you can create a life.''
Another misconception people have is that art therapists have some kind of dictionary that helps them interpret clients' art work. But art therapists work with each client to interpret his own work, to help him work through conflicts.
``You can see the healing process,'' Stubbs said. ``When people start, their drawings are often sparse. They look very empty.
``As they begin to heal and grow, there's more color and more detail. It can be a very emotional experience. They see things they didn't expect to come up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color art
by CNB