Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious

October 30, 2022: Nora Swan Foster, Jungian Analyst

Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious

2 hour ZOOM: 9 am LA time, 10 am Denver time, noon Mexico City time, 5 pm London time, 3 m Sydney time (the next day).

We welcome your live (virtual) attendance and for those of you for whom the time is inconvenient, we will convert the ZOOM recording into a YouTube video.

Moderator: Robin McCoy Brooks

Jungian Art Therapy was written as an invitation to those students of Jung who might become better acquainted with his ideas about the structure of the psyche through the image, and the process of its creation. In this presentation I will consider Jung’s view that “psyche is image”, and that his notion of “the third thing” is integral to Jungian art therapy. While working in his Red Book, Jung’s use of art materials provided a deliberate and active alchemical engagement with the material world that opened the gates for the unconscious, for dialogues with inner figures, and to reconnect with his soul. In my view, the process and these products are not art in the traditional sense. Hidden behind these images we find Jung’s deep intimacy with the unconscious that grew out of tormented confrontations, and his relationship to ancient and prophetic mysteries. Jung’s prescient clarity, first explored in The Transcendent Function, highlights his profound conceptualization of unique and powerful ways that the invisible becomes visible. The products from the unconscious are not ‘just art’ nor are they ‘just symbolic’—to hold this view misunderstands Jung’s depth of lived experiences that he worked through in his active imaginations. Instead, this inner work with the image is concerned with psychic energy and the requisite to honor the living symbol as a reality. While many understand that Jung’s intimacy with the unconscious was the foundation for the expressive arts, influencing some aspects of analysis and psychotherapy, surprisingly art therapists are often trained by teachers who have not been exposed to Jung’s ideas, nor how he intersected with the ancestral roots of art therapy. Finally, images created by students and analysands will be used to illustrate “the third thing” or various states of expression and explorations.

Nora Swan-Foster, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, NCPsyA, Nora Swan-Foster, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, NCPsyA, has been in private practice for over 35 years as an art therapist and Jungian analyst in Boulder, Colorado. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, she completed a Masters in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Nora has worked with a range of individuals, had extensive teaching and seminar responsibilities, as well as trainings in group work. Since 1994, Nora has been a teaching member of the Graduate Art Therapy Program at Naropa University, is a training and supervising analyst with the IRSJA, and a member of the IAAP. Nora is the current North American editor for the Journal of Analytical Psychology. She has published two books: Jungian Art Therapy (2018) and Art Therapy and Childbearing Issues (2020), and written several journal articles. Her website is www.swanfoster.com .

IAJS Online Seminar: Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious

Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious, Online Seminars

Dear Membership,We are pleased to announce Nora Swan Foster’s IAJS ZOOM Seminar presented a week from now! A ZOOM invitation will be posted on this list-serve a week prior to October 30th. At that time, if you are planning on attending, we ask that you contact Robin McCoy Brooks robinmccoybrooks@gmail.com as soon as possible to register. This…...

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IAJS Onlne Seminar: Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious with Nora Swan Foster

Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious

Dear Membership,We are pleased to announce Nora Swan Foster’s IAJS ZOOM Seminar presented in just a couple of weeks! A ZOOM invitation will be posted on this list-serve a week prior to October 30th. At that time, if you are planning on attending, we ask that you contact Robin McCoy Brooks robinmccoybrooks@gmail.com as soon as possible to …

IAJS Onlne Seminar: Image or art? Jungian art therapy, analysis, and the relationship with the unconscious with Nora Swan Foster Read More »

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