BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER - TRAUMA UND ART THERAPY AT A SPECIAL EDUCATION ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN TEL AVIV -YAFO

A wise old woman once said: "A painter makes paintings, a sculptor makes sculptures… an artist makes what s/he can." Luckily, as art therapists, the media at our disposal are much wider than just painting and sculpture, and as it happens with children, art therapy also often includes play, drama, music, and usage of materials which does not necessarily fall under the definition of "Art making".

This is all the more true when we deal with the more "difficult", complicated patients, those for whom engaging in play or producing meaningful symbolism, not to mention minding the boundaries of the setting, are extremely difficult.

Having acquired diverse experience in the art world before becoming an art therapist (among others as installation artist, stage designer and theatre maker), I was able to offer unique remedies to some of my patients - who benefitted from a somewhat extraordinary use of materials and objects found in the therapy room, which were sometimes a part of the therapy room – or indeed the therapy room itself.

The vignettes I shall present are taken from my work at the Gesher Special Ed school in Jaffa (Yafo), Israel. Gesher (meaning 'Bridge' in Hebrew) is a multi-cultural school, located in the unique setting of a Jewish-Arab city, as it accommodates children from a vast variety of cultural, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, many of whom are stateless and from the lower socio-economic strata of society.

Speaker: Roi Alter
Born 1980 in Jaffa (Yafo), IL. I am a graduate of the Masters of Art Therapy program of the Seminar Hakibbutzim College, Tel Aviv (2021); Masters of Fine Arts program of the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (2013); and Bachelor of Fine Arts, the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design, Jerusalem (2010).

Since 2020 I have been working as art therapist with children and adolescents in different settings. Alongside my private practice I have worked at the Gesher elementary school for complex learning disabilities in Yafo, Israel; 'Eekhpat Balayla' at-risk youth outreach organization, Tel Aviv - Yafo; and Hakfar Hayarok boarding school, Ramat Hasharon, Israel. I currently reside in Berlin, working privately as counselor and artist.

Lecture via Zoom in English, Workshop included, for this you need a masking tape.