Anat Amit, a STATA Friend/Supporter, is an Art Therapist from Israel. She facilitated a wonderful workshop for the Austin Den on the Hamssah which is a traditional artpiece that represents a blessing. She also made some traditional food for attendees to sample.
Movie Review New York Times
My Name Is Alan and I Paint Pictures September 19, 2007 Using Art to Exorcise His Demons By MATT ZOLLER SEITZ
Published: September 19, 2007
There is no shortage of documentaries about mentally ill artists, but “My Name Is Alan and I Paint Pictures,” by the director Johnny Boston, finds a fresh way into the subject.
At first this feature about the British-born New York painter Alan Russell Cowan — a k a Alan Streets — seems merely an efficient portrait of a schizophrenic artist. Mr. Cowan is an affable art school dropout whose jumbled, elastic cityscapes and figurinelike caricatures suggest Thomas Hart Benton gone psychedelic.
The movie recounts his journey to New York in 1988, his obsession with graffiti and his struggle to sell his paintings and deal with his demons (represented in animated effects shots that place Mr. Cowan in the frame with his creations).
But while Mr. Cowan’s story is sympathetically told, it’s ultimately a springboard for the movie’s lucid explanation of how creativity and mental illness interact within the brain. The film insists that there’s medical proof of art’s healing power — that with the right mix of medication, therapy and routines, schizophrenics with substance-abuse problems can make creativity their sole addiction.
Mr. Cowan seems living proof of this theory, telling the director that when he paints, his dark thoughts are evicted from his mind and transferred onto canvas.
MY NAME IS ALAN
and I Paint Pictures
Opens today in Manhattan.
Directed by Johnny Boston; director of photography, Jarred Alterman; edited by Todd Drezner; music by Adam Balazs; released by Raw Media Network and Raw Films. At the Two Boots Pioneer Theater, 155 East Third Street, at Avenue A, East Village. Running time: 76 minutes. This film is not rated.
SIMS Foundation
For more information about the SIMS Foundation, please visit www.simsfoundation.org or call (512) 472-1008. For musicians seeking mental health services, please call our confidential client line at (512) 494-1007. In emergency situations, those seeking mental health support should call the Travis County Help Line at (512) 472-HELP (472-4357) or the Suicide Hotline at 1-800-784-2433.
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NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARIES
NEED YOUR HELP
The libraries in New Orleans where devasted by Katrina. If you want to help you can send both paperbok and hardcover books. Here's how.
BOOKS SHOULD BE MAILED TO:
RICA A. TRIGS, PUBLIC RELATIONS
NEW ORLEANS PUBLIC LIBRARY
219 LOYOLA AVENUE
NEW ORLEANS, LA 70112-200
IF YOU TELL THE POST OFFICE THAT THE BOOKS ARE FOR THE LIBRARIES IN NEW ORLEANS. TEHY WILL GIVE YOU THE LIBRARY RATE THAT IS LESS THAN BOOK RATE.
FOR MORE INOFRMATION VISIT http://nutrias.org/info/friends/friends.htm
The Menninger Clinic Education Office
For more information or registration go to www.menningerclinic.org
or call the Education Office staff at The Menninger Clinic
(713-275-5055)
WORKSHOPS AND EVENTS
sponsored by South Texas groups
San Antonio Trauma & Dissociation Professional Study
Group
You are invited to attend the next meeting of the SATDPSG
Meeting Time:
The FIRST Tuesday of each month from 12:15 to 1:45
