Author: Gabby Park

Art is recognized for its many benefits to society– culturally, politically, educationally.  Yet, little is discussed about art’s potential for healing, or for its potential to be used in the process of healing.  More and more, people and institutions are coming to realize that art holds powers that are more related to more than just aesthetics and the freedom of expression: it also holds the gift of healing, as well.

Art is also a great healer because of the interaction that results from the creation and viewing process.  The individual is able to talk through the art and the viewer is able to receive that communication and interpret it in their own manner.  Art also provides an avenue for encouragement; others are able to see the kind of creativity each individual holds and the artist feels a sense of pride in creating something that they did not see themselves as being capable enough to even imagine.

Often times, physical and mental health patients who are undergoing intensive treatment or suffering from depression are encouraged to use art as a means to explore their pain and their fears, and consequently learn about what they consider to be happiness and joy. In this way, art is seen as a means of facing one’s fears and tackling one’s obstacles that they may not be able to understand on a purely intellectual or verbal level.

One of the best and encouraging examples I’ve found of art as therapy is the series “Mamika” series by photographer Sacha Goldberger.  Seeing her grandmother, Frederika, depressed and lonely, Sacha decided to ask her to pose as the main personage in a photo shoot that portrayed the elderly woman as a superhero.  Frederika instantly lit up all throughout the shoot and once finished, Sacha created a Myspace page for her.  With thousands of friends who leave her encouraging messages, Frederika has found an outlet to reach out to a community outside of her normal circle and to end her sense of loneliness.  With more photo shoots and more photos, Frederika and Sacha have found a common activity that unites them and also serves each her own purposes: one to live her life as a photographer, and the other to live her life as a grandmother worthy of recognition.

Art does have the capacity to heal.  Like all things, it may be in the smallest of ways and the most imperceptible, but art truly possesses the power to make a difference in people’s lives.  The deeply intimate process of both creation and viewing make it an intrinsically interactive experience that touches the lives of everyone involved.

I’m not ashamed to admit it: I love romantic comedies.  Okay… sometimes I am a bit embarrassed.  I shouldn’t be!  But… there is one reason that I am:  Every romantic comedy is exactly the same.

The plot line usually goes like this: Girl and boy don’t get along/hate each other –>forced in some situation to spend more time in each other’s presence –> begins to have feelings for each other –> one usually has another love interest that s/he begins to pursue –> makes the other person jealous and leads her/him to realize their feelings for her/him –> s/he goes after her/him –> begins a relationship.

It’s pretty much the same.  Pride & Prejudice (one of the best romantic comedies ever), 27 Dresses, 2 Weeks Notice, Knocked Up, How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, The Ugly Truth, Letters to Juliet, The Proposal, Fools Rush In, Music & Lyrics, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Ten Things I Hate About You, Legally Blonde… The list goes on.

Personally, I have never read a Nicholas Sparks book or seen any movie versions (except for A Walk to Remember), so I cannot testify to the truth of this claim, but I wouldn’t doubt it if it were true: All Nicholas Sparks books and movies are the same.

Case in point:

Have all the great love stories of this world already been written so that no new ideas can come from new authors?  Or is it that love is so universal that all the stories, though different in detail, still maintain the overarching themes that render it so similar to every other love story in the world?

Meet Julian Beever.  He can make things come to life magically from the sidewalk.

You think I’m kidding?  I’m not.  He really can.  It may not be “magic” in its purest sense of the word, but the sidewalk art that he sculpts becomes a magical illusion that really can boggle your mind.

All of these works of art are created with chalk and a camera.  Beever sets up a camera at a specific spot on the sidewalk, which he uses as his reference point.  As he draws his art on the sidewalk, he walks back and forth from his work to the camera, looking through the viewfinder to see if his perspective is turning out correctly.  Looked at from any other angle that is not face-on, the drawing does look skewed.  But if seen from the exact angle for which it was created, the viewer gets a surprising 3-D shock.

Beever goes around the world making these 3-D creations and offering delightful surprises for those lucky enough to encounter them.  Has anyone of you seen them?  Or do you know of any other works by other artists that is equally innovative and inspiring on the street?

Apparently light sabers are real.

As are quantum teleporters.

And flying saucers.

And holographic displays.

And virtual goggles.

…The list goes on.

Scientists and researchers (who could be one and the same, most likely) have discovered new ways to make the science fiction technology become a reality.  When things like teleportation devices and flying saucers first appeared in sci-fi films and novels, who would have thought that they could become the real thing?  But that’s the beauty of art– we can conceptualize even the most seemingly implausible things and thus inspire other creative thinkers to practically realize the impractical propositions made by art.

And this makes me wonder: Could these advances have been made without art?  Without having the authors and the artists who came up with these crazy tall tales about Unidentified Flying Objects and robots on Galactic Republic (Star Wars) and jet packs enabling regular people to fly, could science have taken bold steps in the crazy directions that it has?  I’m sure many people have read books or watched films and thought, “Wow, that’s so cool!  I want to make that!” and that those people have become the ones who have paved the way for us in the realm of applied science.  It’s encouraging to know that even our most out of this world insane ideas can be taken and fiddled with to become a tool of the real world.

With this in mind– what about the Jetsons?  If all of these new technologies and gadgets inspired by different art forms are slowly coming together to form a part of our reality instead of just our imaginations, imagine what else could come from the Jetsons!  Cars that fold into briefcases, robotic maids who cook and clean for us, and maybe even… aliens?!

Discovering innovative new uses for space has become a new trend among contemporary artists and architects.  For those people working in cities where the densely packed urban environment leads to smaller confinements of space and limited building sizes, space becomes a hot commodity and so does creative thinking.

For one architect in Hong Kong, this issue of space became highly problematic in one of the densest cities of the world.  Gary Chang, coping with the tight space wasn’t necessarily a towering obstacle; rather it became another problem to solve in his field of design.  Desiring to live in the tiny three bedroom apartment formerly owned by his family, he decided to take space into his own hands.  Creating a “futuristic” system comprised of wheels, tracks, and much glass and metal, Chang transformed his cramped home of childhood into a highly efficient and eco-friendly adaptable apartment.  With moving walls and furniture, Chang is able to create 24 different rooms and designs in his small 33x10ft (approx.) flat.

Watch the video for more information!