Open Art Studio
Intended Audience
All members including people living with cancer, family members and significant caregivers.
Program Description
Open Art Studio helps people to come together and relax. Bring any art project you’ve either started at Wellspring or from home and work in fellowship with others.
Wellspring Expressive Arts programs build communities of hope and support, diminish feelings of isolation and create feelings of well-being and self-worth. Members are invited to sample a multitude of art genres. Expressive Arts programs are led by individuals recognized as experts in their fields and who understand and work with creativity and personal expression with a wellness focus.
“A beautiful, relaxing, and deeply enriching experience with lasting after-effects that will assist me in the days ahead. It opened up many possibilities and helped me immensely.”
“The facilitator tailors the meditation to each individual person’s needs so everyone gets whatever they need the most!”
“The program helped me relax and visualize inner healing and calmness.”
Benefits and Impact
Self-expression through the creation of art can have meaningful effects on the health of people living with cancer. Research on art therapies involving painting, music, dancing, and many other creative media has found evidence of a broad range of health-related benefits, such as improvements in anxiety, fatigue, pain, and quality of life (Boehm et al., 2014; Bosman et al., 2021; LaPenna & Tariman, 2020; Puetz et al., 2013; Wood et al., 2011). A 2017 study on the effects of a painting art therapy program on cancer patients receiving chemotherapy noted significant improvements in quality of life following the therapy (Bozcuk et al., 2017). Furthermore, two recent studies find that expressive writing interventions can reduce pain and improve sleep quality in people living with cancer (Merz et al., 2014; Zhou et al., 2015).
What to Expect at a Session
Expect to lose yourself in a creative project and find yourself in a new ‘happy place’ – calm, focused, and at ease with your surroundings. These classes are not about producing beautiful pieces of art, they are about venturing down a new road in the company of others who are in similar places of change and transformation. Whether you are a beginner, a dabbler or an experienced artist… no particular skills or talents are required. The focus is on fun, self-exploration and personal empowerment.
