Authentic Voice Speaks Out On The ‘Journey Within’

By Nancy K. Crevier

Marion Pierce and Jackie Kelly are pleased with the positive reaction received so far that “Journey Within,” an exhibition that opened Sunday, October 10, in the Olga Knoepke Room of C.H. Booth Library. It is the first group show for members of Authentic Voice, a meditative healing art group for which Ms Pierce serves as the facilitator, and which meets weekly at the Taunton Hill Road home of Ms Kelly.

The collection of intensely personal works is the craft of the group that has met for more than ten years as a means of releasing creative energy and healing physical, mental, and spiritual pain. By exhibiting publicly, they hope to encourage others to utilize creativity as a means of healing, to join Authentic Voice, or to start their own healing art groups.

“People often find themselves in our art, we see,” said Ms Pierce.

In traditional art groups, said Ms Pierce, who until recently worked as a recreation therapist at Hancock House in Danbury, “it’s about perfecting the product.” Authentic Voice is seen by the 17 artists who currently make up the group as art that focuses on the process of creation, rather than the end product. It is a place where members can learn to make the leap from the practical left side of the brain that dominates most day-to-day activities, to the right side of the brain, where creativity is centered.

“If you don’t tap the creative reservoir, if you don’t take time to enjoy life, and feel balanced,” said Ms Pierce, “you become ill. I believe that a lot of ‘dis-ease’ is based in stress. If you are ‘uneasy’ constantly, it manifests as illness.”

She speaks from experience, as it was her own trials with fibromyalgia that led her to healing art. Although she loved to draw and paint as a young girl, the Bronx born and raised Ms Pierce was not encouraged to follow a career path in art. Instead, she majored in psychology and recreation therapy, raised a family, volunteered for numerous committees, and eventually found herself debilitated by the painful muscle syndrome fibromyalgia, which left her too exhausted at the end of the day to do much of anything. One evening, she picked up the art supplies she had at home for her four children, and began to doodle.

“I could feel the energy returning, as crazy as that seems,” she said. She continued to make time for her doodling each evening, and as her artwork progressed, the pain from fibromyalgia lessened.

“I had found a way to rest and renew the left brain, and a way to purge myself from things I had hung onto,” said Ms Pierce. She wanted to know why this was working to relieve her pain, though, when medical intervention had failed to do so. Research, particularly the books of Dr Michael Samuels, seemed to confirm what she believed: that physical and mental pain, suppressed consciously or unconsciously, could be alleviated through the release of creativity.

She has shared her knowledge and insight as a facilitator of healing art workshops for the past 15 years at area colleges, health centers, and recreational centers, as well as through the Authentic Voice group.

Symbols And Colors

“The beauty of healing art is that it doesn’t involve the elements of art. It is just about bringing out color and symbol from the subconscious,” said Ms Kelly, who discovered Authentic Voice through her sister-in-law, at a time when her mother was being treated for dementia. A professional artist who renders pen and ink drawings of homes and pets, she has found a way, through the expression of healing art, to be freed from the sadness created by her mother’s illness and from the exacting restraints her professional career places upon her. She has found a place in which she can explore the areas of her life that are not at ease.

“From the first night I met with the group, I enjoyed it. It’s emotional doodling. Things begin to reveal themselves as your work progresses,” she said. She welcomed the Authentic Voice group into her home studio five years ago, where supplies of paper, Prismacolor markers, tempera paint, brushes, and colored pencils are provided for a donation of just $2 per session.

The members are not all artists, or even experienced in art, said Ms Kelly. Authentic Voice is designed to allow growth in an uncritical surrounding, providing the support necessary to overcome even the negative left-brain mantra that hinders creativity.

“People worry at first that they can’t paint like Jackie, or draw like someone else. But everyone develops his or her own style. We don’t want anyone to try to ‘copy’ anyone else’s style. You want to be authentic,” said Ms Pierce. “The art starts to talk to you and you discover what is inside of you.”

Each weekly session begins with the members working independently on free form art in any medium he or she prefers. Many work with the Prismacolor markers and paint, but others use collages or crayons as a means of expression.

“After drawing for an hour or so, members can select to put up a piece of art for everyone to observe,” said Ms Kelly. Ms Pierce then guides the artist in looking at what might be hidden beneath the surface of the work. “We look for symbols, colors, and what they could mean,” said Ms Kelly.

“Color is emotional,” added Ms Pierce, “and individual. What blue may mean to me is entirely different from what it could mean to someone else, for instance.”

Symbols, as well, can be personal or universal. What regular members do see, she said, is that certain symbols recur.

“Those symbols and colors become part of your own language of art,” said Ms Kelly, who feels that the benefits of releasing through art during the Authentic Voice sessions flows over into her daily work. “Now when I’m doing my pen and ink work, I can sense when I’m tensing up, step back, and relax, so that I’m having fun with my work, too,” she said.

Moving On Day To Day

“We all walk around with things that weigh heavy,” said Ms Pierce. “If you can sort that out somewhere and move on,” she said, “then you move on better day to day, I believe.”

None of the members, nor Ms Pierce, are licensed therapists, nor do they pretend to be. There is no obligation to share work or discuss work at any time. “We never fear that what comes out in a class is more than can be dealt with, though,” said Ms Pierce. “It is what is ready to come out.”

Jane Knox’s mother was a patient at Hancock Hall until her death in 2003, and it was there that Ms Knox met Ms Pierce and was invited to join Authentic Voice. “I could tell she was a ‘searcher,’ and I sensed this would help Jane at the time,” said Ms Pierce.

A retired secondary school social studies teacher, Ms Knox said she has found the group to be a means of enhancing the quality of her life.

“My process is a little different. I come and do one thing each time. I don’t work on pieces over time, like many in the group do,” she said. What she finds particularly wonderful about Authentic Voice, said Ms Knox, “is that it doesn’t matter that I’m not good at drawing. It’s just such fun.”

The group is not all seriousness, either, said Ms Knox. Visiting, joking, and sharing are all part of the evening. “The group is healing even if we are just sitting around laughing,” she said.

Because she does not think of herself an artist, Ms Knox said that she was shocked — as well as pleased — to be part of the “Journey Within” show.

Displaying their art to the public is a bit scary, admitted Ms Pierce, but also a natural progression for the group.

“We set this goal of doing a public art show in order to inspire others. What we do is very different. It’s a personal journey and here, in our group, it is very nonjudgmental,” she said.

The important message Authentic Voice hopes to send through the art show is that art of any kind is important in all lives.

“It’s important to explore your creativity,” said Ms Pierce, “or your life is one dimensional, and flat.”

Authentic Voices welcomes new members. The group meets Monday evenings, from 7 to 9:30 pm, at 103 Taunton Hill Road. For more information, contact Jackie Kelly at 203-270-1252 or jkelly003@earthlink.net; or Marion Pierce at 203-232-0994 or piercemcplw@aol.com.

“While abandoning specific technique, form, and ego, the meditative artist answers the challenge to delve inward and intuitively feel what needs to be expressed through the hands. The process increases individual awareness of the relationship of body, mind, and spirit. Because… Without awareness there is no choice,” reads the Authentic Voice group statement. Visitors to the Booth Library exhibit are encouraged to read the Group Intent in order to better appreciate the works displayed.

“Journey Within” runs through October 29. The Olga Knoepke Room, on the first floor of the C.H. Booth Library, is open during regular library hours.

 The Authentic Voice Art Group will present an introductory workshop on using art for healing at C.H. Booth Library on Friday, October 22, at 7 pm. To register send an  e-mail to piercemcplw@aol.com or call 203-232-0994.