2022/10/08
The First Class The first class at Pratt was one given by Prof. Robbins. It was the core class in the whole art therapy programs. The professor sat in a chair placed in the center of the wall facing the window, and the students surrounded him in a semicircle as they attended the class. By the way, the chairs that the students sat on were equipped with a foldable table, like ones used for in-flight meals on airplanes. We don’t see such type of table in Japan for we are accustomed to have a...
Classroom scene at Pratt · 2022/09/05
Classroom scene at Pratt Professor Arthur Robbins (Ed.D.) was the long-time boss of Pratt's art therapy department (formally, the Department of Creative Arts Therapy), although the head of the department was a woman. Having Prof.Robbins at the top, all the faculty members had a family-like connection. Prof. Robbins led the core classes of art therapy through out two academic years. Other classes such as ‘group art therapy’, ‘family art therapy’, ‘developmental psychology’, and more,...
2022/08/07
the Spirit of Art Therapy 3 Encounter with Art Therapy I enrolled in the Creative Arts Therapy Department (Graduate School) of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York in 1985 to study art therapy. The Pratt Institute's Department of Art Therapy was founded in 1970, along with five programs starting around the same time: New York University, George Washington University, Emerson College, and Hanemann Institute. They made a major current of art therapy in the United States. The American Art...
2022/06/08
The eve of art therapy (2) "Hey, Seki !" My one of my classmates called out on the bank in front of the university. When he entered the school, he was in the baseball club, and I had the image that he was playing baseball all the time. However, after a short interval he showed up with the different identity. He became prominent in the student activism, and in a blink of an eye he stand for and was elected as the student president. At that time, there was a stipulation that if you did not take...
2022/06/04
The eve of encountering Art Therapy (1) The 1970 is remembered as a year of major milestones in Japanese history, with several major events. That year was the year when the US-Japan Security Treaty signed in 1960 was renewed. At that time, the student movement was raging at universities all over the country, and demonstrations of "anti-Security Treaty" were repeated every day. The summer of that year was also the year when humans walking on the road were featured in the front page of newspapers...
2022/05/30
最初の授業 プラットにおける最初の授業は、このコースの中心となる授業となるロビンズ教授によるものであった。 教授は窓に面した壁側の中央に置かれた椅子に座り、学生たちは、教授をぐるりと半円形に取り囲んで授業を受けた。...
2022/05/23
プラットでの授業風景 プラットのアートセラピーの学科(正式には“クリエイティブ・アーツ・セラピー学科”)では、学科長は女性であったが、学科全体は古くからのボス的存在だったアーサー・ロビンズ教授(Ed.D)を頂点に、講師陣はファミリーのようなつながりを持っていた。...
2022/05/18
アートセラピーとの出会い 私がアートセラピーを学ぶために、ニューヨークのブルックリンにある、プラット・インスティチュートのクリエイティブ・アーツ・セラピー学科(大学院)に入学したのは、1985年のことである。...
2022/05/07
アートセラピー前夜(2) 「おーい、関!」 クラスメートのIが大学の前の土手の上で声をかけてきた。 Iは入学したころは野球部に入っていて、授業もそこそこに野球ばかりをしていたイメージがあった。ところがいつの間にか学生運動で頭角を現してきて、瞬く間に学生会長に立候補して選ばれるまでになった。...
2022/05/04
大学に入り、学生運動などさまざまな活動に明け暮れていたが、友人の死を契機に精神的な危機が訪れ、絵を描くことを通し生き延びることができた。
後にアートセラピーに出会うこととなる、10年以上前のことである。