VISUALIZING THE SELF IN FLUX October 25-26, 2019. University Park Campus. Conference Proceeding Vol. 1

Presentation Title: Margaret Naumburg, , & Activism

Panel Title: The Art of Care: Therapy, Pedagogy, Activism

Author: Peggy Suzuki

Affiliation: St. John’s University

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Copyright © 2019 Peggy Suzuki

This is an unpublished piece by the author(s) listed on this cover page. No commercial or non- commercial reproduction or modification permitted unless authorized by the author(s).

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Abstract

Art is not only a broad term for discovery through play, but it is a powerful means for opening the self to “flow-states” for new ideas.1 This paper addresses self in flux through the examination of the life and work of Margaret Naumburg, (1890-1983) who is known as the "mother of art therapy." Naumburg, initially influenced by and Marie Montessori, was the founder of The Walden School. Later, her interest in 's work allowed her to draw parallels between freeing the unconscious mind through art expression. Her detailed, qualitative study of the children she worked with and their dramatic art express her patients' interpretations of their repressed emotions, which led to their healing. This talk will address identity, inbetween-ness, and the self through an in-depth understanding of the importance of how Naumburg's work sets a backdrop for reinventing education, art, healing, and innovation. The repercussions of how the mind processes experience are vast. Turmoil and triumph are on the same spectrum of becoming, and, regardless, people are dependent on relationships for recovery and growth. Naumburg's idea of connecting art to therapy was not about the art itself, but the patient's connection and interpretation of it. In viewing artwork by artists such as Beth Campbell, creator of My Potential Future Based on Present Circumstances, Naumburg considered tenets for future actions and possibilities. In other words, "what if" can mean determining a change for the next work through examination and choice for the future out of a sea of possibilities envisioned by oneself. Might the re-emphasis and importance of art in academic institutions replenish cultural mores and values for main street critical thinking and civil liberty actions for the transformation of more inclusive, democratic communities?

Margaret Naumburg, Art Therapy, & Activism By Peggy Suzuki

Art is not only a broad term for discovery through play, but it is a powerful means for opening the self to “flow-states” for new ideas.2 This paper addresses self in flux through the examination of the life and work of Margaret Naumburg, (1890-1983) who is known as the "mother of art therapy." This talk will address identity, inbetween-ness, and the self through an in-depth understanding of the importance of how Naumburg's work sets a backdrop for reinventing education, art, healing, and innovation.

In her notes, Naumburg talked about how a person must "master" oneself before mastering the world: "The law of self-preservation is certainly the first law of life."3 Moreover, her mission built on the philosophy that no two children grow in the same way or at the same pace.4 Therefore, she propelled a student's highly individualized interests forward over the curriculum of study at the school she founded in New York, The Walden School.

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Her lifelong search for honoring a person's unique identity had her profoundly examine the function of institutions in society. For example, Naumburg asks, "Education for what?"5 This question informs every decision that educators, administrators, parents, and students make. Is the real purpose of education to expand one's mind? To get a job? To socialize? In her criticism of education, Naumburg quotes Lawrence Binyon in saying, “We have divided life into separate compartments, each presided over by a science with a separate name; but the wholeness of life has somehow been obscured. What we seem to have lost is the art of living."6 In today's culture, this translates to a loss of humanity, connection with others, and failure to make sophisticated choices. It is a reminder of the vital role that art and culture play in the expression of joy, empathy, and in understanding the human condition.

In addition to studying with Marie Montessori and being influenced by John Dewey, Naumburg drew her inspiration and philosophy for teaching and forming the Walden School from the "Romantic individualism of Rousseau" where the child is placed at the center and looks to develop the senses and feelings.7 By contrast, she repudiated the way John Locke's view of education found its way into mainstream education in America with its formalism and blank slate method.8 Naumburg asserted that experience occurs through "making and doing," and that is what leads to "real thought."9 Dewey applied these same principles to learning in real-world environments and had students develop projects, but Naumburg criticized how he failed to promote individual

3 | P a g e tenets into the projects since the projects were not chosen by individual students, nor were they individually motivated. Motivation, she explained, was the most important factor for education. If students were interested in learning something, they would learn it.

Additionally, Naumburg contested how Dewey's complaint that sentimentalism was deadly for education because this mindset divorced feelings from work, much like formalism. She contended that "As I see it unless the growth of the inner life of feeling is nurtured as carefully as that of the exterior social action, children cannot function harmoniously in the social life of either childhood or maturity."10 In referencing the Ancient Greeks, she argued how the body was congruent with the mind: “Mental training has become the bulwark of our training; physical and artistic training are regarded as incidentals."11 Lack of developing emotions and socialization are sidelined both then and now.

Naumburg affirmed Moravian Bishop Commenius’ point that every educational system was founded on theories, philosophy, and values of society to the social group or state that it represented. If these mores were what drove education, she asked, "Does our education give a philosophy of life, by which he can steer a mastery of himself a fair estimate of his capacities and power? Or is it possible that education is conceived with other goals?”12

By re-examining these questions Naumburg posed, the significance of educational aims becomes the core of what is valued and reflects societal values. The idea of education itself appears as circular, in flux. In applying these constructions to the present day, the question to ask is, "What are the most important goals for society?" and this echoes Naumburg's initial question, "Education for what?"13 The global community is no longer made up of individual islands functioning separately and ignorant of others. Knowing is communicating, regardless of action or inaction. There are conscious choices to be made. And with this, comes great responsibility.

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Naumburg envisioned what it would take to further the work that had yet to be done by stating two significant points: [1.] "The future demands a re- examination of the nature of the creative process” and [2] "The test of the wider potentialities of such art expression lies still in the future.”14 Might this re-emphasis and importance of art in academic institutions replenish cultural mores and values for main street critical thinking and civil liberty actions for the transformation of more inclusive, democratic societies?

As Naumburg explored, taught, and administered at The Walden School, she continued to look for how to motivate children and how to find their hearts, but what she discovered was how vital was to teaching. The behavioral problems were where her most essential creativity began because these children could not be placed in a neat little corner to do their work. These children required individual care and inventive handling for their progress because their lives depended on it. And because Naumburg studied aberrant personalities, she came to understand "normal" people.15 In her view, education and psychology were inextricably connected. This connection of disciplines became the new field of study known as "educational psychology." Her retrospective implication here is that art therapy is not just for children with behavioral problems, but that there are countless applications of the work for all ages.

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Naumburg's initial exploration of Freud's concepts began with her observations and work with these behaviorally disturbed children. According to Naumburg, Freud came at a time when " has made both the artist and the general public increasingly aware of the fact that man's unconscious thinks and feels in symbolic images.”16 This was how people during this time, according to Naumburg, generally "think and speak."17 The distinction for Naumburg, though, was how Freud’s The Interpretation of was a breakthrough for symbolic representation, despite his discouragement for his patients to create the images they described visually. Instead, he insisted on verbalization.

However, Naumburg showed how new artistic enterprises serve to bring into conscious life the buried material of the child's emotional problems. In having the patients express themselves by creating a picture of what they were unable to communicate, they could talk about their problems and give them a different perspective. What she pinpointed was precisely how the study of anthropology and archeology, along with the development of psychoanalysis, and gave rise to the notion that mentally ill people could attempt to communicate through art.18 This exploration was revolutionary in providing healing, and, gradually, the new field of art therapy slowly emerged. Eventually, Naumburg was invited to help shape the program at The New School. Interestingly, Naumburg also claimed that art therapy "helps art educators to become more aware of themselves as people and as teachers.”19

But the critical key for Naumburg was in encouraging her patients to express themselves through artwork, and this was very clearly not about the art, but

6 | P a g e about their communication as to what was underlying the art. [It was for the patient to be] “encouraged to use his spontaneous art as a means for himself of discovering the meaning of his own symbolic productions."20

Naumburg stated that having the patient discover what happens meant that the chain of therapist dependency was broken. This was consistent with her encouragement of self-discovery through creativity as a means of self- preservation.

The goal for Naumburg was not to mentor artists, but to encourage authenticity and joy. Naumburg explained through her citation of Gardner Murphy's work that "learning isn't just about reading the great books, but about knowing oneself: the very heart is missing. The heart, as I see it, is the demand of the person for life, the nourishment and enrichment of what he already is."21

Discovery is a critical component of creativity and an essential element for adding play to the self in flux. Moreover, there is malleability in flexibility for crafting confidence for the fluidity of self during inbetween-ness. Turmoil and triumph are on the same spectrum of becoming, and, regardless, people are dependent on relationships for recovery and growth. The repercussions of how the mind processes experiences are vast. Identity with a capital "I" is in flux because it is mostly influenced by one’s environment. The key, though, is how personal temperaments react to the outside stimulus and this makes self- preservation essential for survival.

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The act of creation/creating something is fundamental towards developing ownership and deepening one's ever-growing identity and sense of self. Naumburg gave us a gift in reminding us that "Art as (is) the groundwork of a true education."22 This is the key to where education should redirect its energy. The neuroscience behind introducing and sustaining art practices shows how art physically creates highways in the brain to connect bridges for making more connections faster. As a result, the measures in James S. Catterall's twelve- year study, Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art show how students are more motivated and engaged, have higher achievement levels and have actively participated more as volunteers and in the political arena years later.23 This makes art a necessity as an important expression for living. Thinking and acting for oneself is, on every level, essential, and therefore, the possibilities that art creates for people can influence future outcomes for all.

In viewing artwork by artists such as Beth Campbell, creator of My Potential Future Past Based on Present Circumstances, people can consider tenets for future actions and possibilities.24 For example, Campbell discusses how the "what if" scenario of possibilities gives her viewers a window into what might have been or what could be for the future by asking them to envision one of their actions in particular and create a real and imagined myriad of projected outcomes. It is a technique that offers complex consideration to simultaneous possibilities existing in the same time frame in life and offers an exploration of writing in an entirely new way and can be applied pedagogically. The real outcome is in making authentic choices for one's future and examining past and present decisions. An emphasis on the arts can help take some of the guesswork out of identity building and replace insecurity with confidence by working through varying choice scenarios. In doing so, specific paths can be forged while others can be avoided and this leads to greater responsibilities in the world.

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Campbell, Beth. My Potential Future Based on Present Circumstances. 16 August 1999. Pencil on paper. Private Collection. Brooklyn, New York. *Digital image courtesy of Beth Campbell.

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To conclude, each era promises different challenges for learners and growth for identity to form. Art is basic and rooted in our DNA regardless of where people are from and what is obscured. As Naumburg explained, "But whatever interpretation we may give to our own 'art,' we must realize that modern man still draws from his unconscious, today, as did men in past cultures."25 Bringing undeveloped thoughts, ideas, and problems forward can help students and teachers alike to draw on their true strengths, make discoveries, and let go of past wrongs, and so develop in maturity and depth. Certainly, it is no wonder that by revising policymaking, programming, and teaching to develop a stronger emphasis on valuing and engaging with the arts promotes self- preservation. The outcome will result in better overall health and higher mortality rates, increased positivity and happiness, higher student retention rates, and a stronger economy. In other words, by connecting with the arts, people will feel better, be healthier, live longer, and be happier. The cadence for developing one’s identity, despite its ebbing and flowing, exists in current realities, or by creating future potentials for new ones.

References

1 Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perrenial Modern Classics. 2008. Print, 6. 2 Ibid, 6. 3 Margaret Naumburg papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and

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Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Library, box 14, notes for Democratic Education on Trial, unpublished. 4 Ibid, box 14, notes for “The Human Side of Teaching, unpublished.” 5 Ibid, box 14, notes for Democratic Education on Trial, unpublished. 6 Ibid, box 97, Introduction to the Practice of Art Therapy. 7 Ibid, box 14, promotional materials and reviews of The Child and the World. 8 Ibid, box 50, Crisis Lecture 9, ““Emergence of the Individual in Modern Education.” 9 Ibid. 10 Naumburg, Margaret. An Introduction to Art Therapy: Studies of the “Free” Art Expression of Behavior Problem Children and Adolescents as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy. Teachers College Pr., 1973, 27. 11 Margaret Naumburg papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Library, box 15, “The Eurythmics of Jacque Dalcroze,” unpublished. 12 Ibid, box 14, Democratic Education on Trial, unpublished. 13 Ibid. 14 Naumburg, Margaret. An Introduction to Art Therapy: Studies of the “Free” Art Expression of Behavior Problem Children and Adolescents as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy. Teachers College Pr., 1973, 47, 49. 15 Margaret Naumburg papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Library, box 14, notes on education and psychoanalysis. 16 Ibid, box 53, “Art Expression and the Unconscious.” 17 Ibid. 18 Ibid, box 53, “Art as Symbolic Speech.” 19 Ibid, box 14, notes on modern education and psychotherapy. 20 Ibid, box 53, “Analytically Oriented Art Therapy: It’s Place and Purpose.” 21 Ibid, box 53, “Art Therapy and Art Education.” 22 Ibid, box 14, notes for Democratic Education on Trial, unpublished. 23 Catterall, James. S. Doing Well and Doing Good by Doing Art: A 12-Year National Study of Education in the Visual and Performing Arts: Effects on the Achievements and Values of Young Adults. Imagine Group/I-Group Books. 2009. 24 Campbell, Beth. http://bethcampbellstudio.com/about/. 25 Margaret Naumburg papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Library, box, 53, “Art as Symbolic Speech.”

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