Nina Ross, PhD

One of the things that makes art-making so healing is that we “forget” to think about ourselves! Art-making, bringing attention to images, takes the focus off of our usual self-obsession. This is usually felt as a gigantic relief. Hours go by, and where have we been? We don’t know, we’ve been so immersed, that we’ve been outside of time as we know it. The “I”, with it’s usually constant self-reflection, doubt, worry, and just plain imagining the future, slows down, and with it, thoughts slow down, too. I believe that it is this slowing down, and caring or paying attention to something else besides the contents of our thinking, that gives us a cool drink of water, a pleasant refresher.