Lucy Gibson BAAT / HCPC
Art Psychotherapist - Addiction Therapist
News
23rd March 2016
Lucy is part of a group of Artists and Art
Therapists called ‘Winnicott Wednesdays’.
http://winnicottwednesdays.weebly.com/about.html
About Winnicott Wednesdays
The idea of Winnicott Wednesdays formed in
2010, when a group of artists training to become
Art Psychotherapists at Goldsmiths University
began to meet most weeks (usually on a
Wednesday) to debrief on their personal and
collective experiences of the course; to try to
make sense of psychoanalysis and art, and to
attempt to reconcile the ongoing, often
conflicting nature of the dual roles of artist and
Art Therapist. As they negotiated their often
baffling emotional reactions and responses to the
subject matter of the training they began to form
friendships...these regular meetings became
known as ‘Winnicott Wednesdays’. The group is
an artist collective of like-minded individuals
working together to create art and continue their
discourse.
Recent Exhibition: ‘Scapegoat’
Winnicott Wednesdays presented their third show at
the A-side B-side Gallery in October 2015.
In early western tradition, scapegoating was a complex
ritual of atoning for the sins of a community which
involved two goats; one offered to God as a sacrifice and
the other embodied with the sins or illness of the
community and banished into the wilderness. This
early ritual relied on 'the belief that attributes and
states are transferable substances.' (Cassirer,1955).
Are these processes still at work in contemporary
society, institutions and families? In 2015, the Chinese
Year of the Goat, can the image or the archetype of the
goat hold meaning for us in a way that enables an
understanding of our projections of unwanted,
undesired yet human attributes?
‘This group of artists embody something particular
and distinctive about this realm of practice. I am
impressed by these imaginative responses; developing
beyond their initial training. Their collaboration opens
up a dynamic and reflexive view progressing
explorations into the essence and potential of Art
Psychotherapy as a way to communicate, understand
and transform experience in both intimate and political
dimensions. This work reflects how Art Psychotherapy
is numinous as well as tangible. It opens up thinking,
expression and experience. I am heartened by the work
of the 'Winnicott Wednesdays' collaboration. It creates
a place that connects and supports people. It is a
testament to being responsive to the 'vulnerable' self,
as well as to others, and to thinking critically about
experience and the significance of context.’
Dr Jill Westwood
Programme Convenor: MA Art Psychotherapy,
Goldsmiths University, London