Photo Credit: gobuttit photography

Rich had this to say about how he got started:

“I’ve always been into art and was the art geek in school. It came naturally to me that I would use art as a release and escape when I started going through problems in life. It became my cure without even realizing it. It wasn’t until I started telling people how I used art as a release and a cure that I realized how powerful art can be to someone.

I put my artwork on MySpace, as most artists do, and it started to attract attention from people. One girl in America emailed me one day asking about my work, so I told her my story; how it helped me deal with problems, what the paintings represented and how it made me feel. She replied a few days later telling me that she had been suicidal for months and used self harming as a release from the pain she was feeling. After hearing me tell her about using art as a form of therapy for myself, she went out and bought all manner or paints, brushes, pens, paper and spent a couple of days locked away experimenting with art as a release. She concluded the email by saying she didn’t think about self harming once in the last couple of days and that telling her about art as a cure saved her life.

This made a big impact on me and I thought, if I can do that for someone I’ve never met without even realizing it, imagine what I could do if I poured all of my energy and resources into this, and the movement Art Is The Cure was born. In the last year since the project began, it’s grown to help people all over the world and inspire thousands of people to deal with problems through art.”

Rich is based out of England and his own art is primarily rooted in street art, with stencil and spray paint (my own personal favorite). You can check out his pieces, along with more on his organization at his MySpace page, www.myspace.com/artisthecure.

I’d love to hear more from you readers about how art has been a release in your own life, and any other individuals or organizations you know working for similar causes. I’ve seen art as therapy exploding everywhere, and it’d be great to hear more. Be sure to write Rich, as well, if you’d like to tell him how art has helped you deal with issues you’ve faced.

I encourage you to check out her blog, which can be found by clicking here, or taking a further look at some of her art, which is posted on her Deviant Art page. Julie considers herself a mixed media collage artist, and says, “I use whatever I can get my hands on.” (That’s the spirit…)

Julie says she’s passionate about so many things, but her art is focused on depression, suicide, self injury, and eating disorders. She’s got a great heart, and shared this story on her art with me:

“I probably got my start from my mom. She’s got a big heart. Definitely a giver. We’ve done a good deal of things together. Everything from working at homeless shelters to doing work in Africa. She definitely fostered this desire in me to give. My passions lie with using art as a solution.

I think I was 15 when someone handed me my first sketchbook. And at first, I tried desperately to use it as I thought a sketchbook should be used: to write and sketch out ideas and then make bigger full pieces of art from that. But after a while, I just kind of gave in. I hated leaving any page unfinished. I wanted them all to be pretty. And once I get started…it just kept going. Things I never knew I even had inside of me came pouring out. It became my healthy outlet when I was dealing with things that were bigger than me. It’s now nearly ten years later and I’m still doing art journals as a form of self therapy. Truth is, I can’t stop. I’d love for them to be able to help others. Anything from just reading and knowing that there’s someone else out there that feels the same, to inspiring them to pick up their own journal. (I guess we’ll see how that goes.)

I really love what To Write Love on Her Arms (TWLOHA) and Heart Support are doing, as well as Art is the Cure. I like the idea using art therapy to heal hurts. I came across videos on YouTube of National Geographic Photographers doing art therapy with people in war-torn countries, places that have already received the basic assistance of food, water and shelter. I think people neglect love sometimes as one of those basic needs, and I think art therapy can help with that. I would love to get to that point. But there’s a good deal of hurt here in the United States that can be helped, as well (and it’s where I am currently). Hopefully, I’ll find an organization that feels like home soon.”

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