One of the foremost fundamental and practical aspects of art is that the importance of materials. the things that artists use once they make a piece of art influence both form and content. Every material brings something special to the creative process and therefore the finished work. Materials influence how artists make their work and the way viewers perceive it.

Let’s start by watching a gaggle of Italian artists who were a part of a movement called Arte Povera.
Arte Povera as an outlined movement lasted from the mid-1960s to the first 1970s. It had been born in response to the elitist modernism that dominated the art world at the time, particularly the newly emerging Minimalism with its clean lines and anonymous surfaces. To accomplish this goal they used the foremost basic materials they may find, often working with industrial leftovers like construction-grade steel, unfinished wood, glass, stone, and dirt. Ideally, a variety of various pastels, crayons, and paints is on the market because each can evoke or support a special implicit experience:

Chalk pastels are sensitive to subtle changes in pressure. Especially when used flat, they permit multiple layers of transparent lines to look on the paper. This permits even unskilled clients to combine colors in an exceedingly satisfying way. However, the dryness doesn’t suit all; some even have allergic itching reactions to that. they’re also a rich art material, which may be of consideration. There are times after I sat with a specific amount of resentment observing a client surfing two pastels per drawing and at the tip of the session a $20 box had been ground to dust…. Chalk pastels break easily when pressure is applied, which might be frustrating for clients. Therein case, it’s better to settle on oil crayons.

Oil crayons are available in different qualities and thicknesses and are far more affordable, due to their application in schools and kindergartens. If they’re too hard, they’re going to feel scratchy on the paper and tear it easily, without making satisfying marks. However, they are doing not must be artist quality so as to be effective. It’s good to own a minimum of some really thick oil crayons at hand, those on offer for pre-schoolers, as they withstand pressure and might be used for drawing with the fists.

Finger-paints are available in large bottles for varsity supplies. These acrylics are usually affordable and wash out, which may be a difficulty otherwise; painting with both hands can get very messy. There has to be enough space to dry the photographs afterward. Sometimes just one color is required to stress a specific emotion or to combine an ‘ointment’ that may be applied to a wound on the paper. Many consumers with attachment trauma “never got enough”. Handfuls of paint contribute a distinctly more tactile and sensual dimension which will prove invaluable in certain cases. The smearing, mixing, scratching, and mucking around, likewise because of the direct contact with thick layers of paint, can evoke infancy memories and will satisfy a desire that was never granted. The vivid strength of the colors appeals to emotional expression. The fluidity of the paints also encourages the thought of giving oneself a massage. However, clients who are traumatized by touch, particularly people who have suffered sex offenses, may get severely triggered by the contact with the paints. During this case, it’s important to own access to many paper towels and water for laundry rituals, which can offer a counter vortex to pendulate to. The haptic dimension of touch has enormous healing potential, which I’ve got explored very well when working with clay.

Crayons, colored pencils, felt pens, and paintbrushes allow distancing from the paper and thus from direct contact with the self, whereas finger paints are “full-on”. Yet, also here clients can distance themselves from overwhelming contact by as an example just touching the paint with the fingertips. Full contact of the hands with the paint and therefore the paper indicates full sensory body contact also on the within. Haptic perception, perception through touch, allows a score of diagnostic insights about how a client’s hands have learned to orientate within the world. How they reach out for contact externally reflects on how they’re in tune with themselves internally. Haptic perception relates the bottom of the hands to the pelvis and inner grounding, the center of the hand to the chest and to feel, and also the fingers, especially the fingertips to cognitive processing. Relaxed hands allow diagnostic conclusions towards a relaxed felt sense, whereas tension, inflexibility, white knuckles, and therefore the inability to totally touch the paint are indicators for fear and point towards a trauma history involving interpersonal abuse.