Annotated Bibliography Project
Field of Inquiry – Art Projects/Workshops for Cancer Patients
FEBRUARY 16, 2013
Allen, Q. (n.d.) The Healing Power of Art. In Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Retreived from http://www.philaculture.org/resources/stories/healing-power-art.
This short article was written to promote the arts for the Greater Philadephia Cultural Alliance, the premier leadership, advocacy and audience development organization for arts and culture in Philadephia. The author is Q. Allen, a visual artist and transformative art facilitator who has lead over 400 group experiences. The article is informative, descriptive, and detailed.
Allen describes a specific art workshop held for cancer patients. She discusses her preparation, the workshop procedures, the patients in attendance, and the success of the workshop. Within the article she includes specific details in her preparation for the workshop: she simplified the art-making process as much as possible; chose easy to use and non-toxic art materials; ensured the room was odor and fragrance-free; and paid special attention to the temperature and seating arrangements. These facts were insightful and helpful. Allen describes the lessons she prepared and the people that attended. Some of the people were in visible pain while others were not. The overall response was positive.
Art Therapy. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternative
medicine/mindbodyandspirit/art-therapy.
The American Cancer Society is a “nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem.”1 This article is published on their website and accessed through their support and treatment tab. It is written for the general public to inform cancer patients or family members of cancer patients about art therapy.
While the article claims, “many clinicians have observed and documented significant benefits among people who have used art therapy” it also states, “art therapy has not been studied scientifically to find out if it has value for people with cancer”. Specifics covered in the article include: an explanation of what art therapy is, how it is used, what it involves, the history behind it, and what kind of evidence supports it. It defines art therapy as “a way to help people manage physical and emotional problems by using creative activities to express emotions”. It involves working with patients individually or in groups. Practitioners say it helps people express hidden emotions; reduces stress, fear, and anxiety; and provides a sense of freedom. It is in agreement with the news video by Beth Parker, and the video of Emily Johnson in its view that children can express difficult emotions in their lives more easily through drawings than through conventional therapy.
Carroll, Maureen. (2011). Who Am I? Exploring Identities. In THIRTEEN ed online. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/whoami/index.html.
Thirteen Ed Online is public television's award-winning Web service for teachers. PBS developed this website as a free service that features everything from standards-based lesson plans and classroom activities to online mentors, and reviews of curriculum-based Web sites. Who Am I? Exploring Identities is a lesson plan devised for students to define identity and consider who they are and what they value. A teacher wrote this lesson plan for high school students. It is detailed and includes a variety of activities.
One part of this lesson is called an identity map. In this activity students create a map that depicts all the components that make up their own identity, including the various roles they play. The students put a circle in the center of the map to represent them. Next they draw lines out from the circle and write words such as loyal, artist, athlete, etc. Although this is intended for older students, it can be adopted into a collage lesson for younger children. Caruso, Géricot, and Johnson are in agreement that art projects on the subject of identity help children with diseases express their feelings.
Caruso, I. (2009). Art’s Healing Powers. Saturday Evening Post, 281, 70-73.
Caruso is an author based out of New York. He has written books and articles for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Washington Post, and the History Channel Magazine, and more. This informative article is written for the Saturday Evening Post and covers what Caruso believes to be indisputable growing evidence of art’s therapeutic benefits. Caruso is not promoting a specific program but presenting research from a collection of different programs. It provides positive input for the benefits of art for patients of various diseases.
Caruso includes information to support his belief in the benefits of art for patients from: an art program that works with patients through Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; a free monthly program for Alzheimer’s patients through Museum of Modern Art in New York; art workshops offered at Hewlett House, a cancer-support resource center on Long Island; the University of Michigan Health System’s Art Cart program; and from the art therapist of Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center in Baltimore. Some of Caruso’s claims include: art helps ailing children gain some control over their helplessness; art reduces pain in cancer patients; art results in improvement in pain and significant improvement in mood and anxiety reduction; art allows suppressed emotions to surface; art stimulates our neurology; art counteracts feelings of helplessness; art is a vehicle to communicate
emotions that children may not be able to articulate; and finally, art has helped as much as any medication. Caruso’s findings follow the believes of Géricot and Johnson.
Fitzgerald, W. (2011). Signs of Hope: Children’s Art Project. In Conquest Fall 2011 ed online. Retrieved from http://www.mdanderson.org/publications/conquest/issues/2011- fall/children-s-art-project.html#
This article is from Conquest, a quarterly publication by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Conquest highlights MD Anderson's new cancer research and treatments, innovative patient services, programs and facilities, strategies to prevent cancer, and human interest stories about patients, donors, faculty, staff and volunteers. In this article, Fitzgerald talks about the Children’s Art Program (CAP) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The thirty-nine year old program, made possible with assistance from volunteers and art instructors, is for children diagnosed with cancer. It provides the opportunity for these children to work alongside each other, building a bond between them. As the children create art, they support, inspire, and encourage one another. The author shares personal testimonies from children and parents who have benefitted from the program. He goes on to tell of participants who eventually return to volunteer at the center.
“During treatment so much is out of the patient’s control, but the time spent creating artwork allows each child to feel empowered,” says Shannan Murray, CAP’s executive director. “It’s a creative outlet that provides a way to look beyond the disease, and this offers the patient hope.” This is in agreement with Caruso and Johnson.
Although the author is writing the article to promote MD Anderson Cancer Center, Child Life Specialist, Renee Hunte2, is in agreement with Fitzgerald. She believes that programs like CAP benefit children being treated for cancer by helping them look beyond the disease. CAP is a testimony to the benefits of an art program for children with cancer.
Géricot, C., Hartman, O., Oppenheim, D. (2002) The Fine Arts Workshop for Children with Cancer. Lancet, 360, 345.
The Lancet is the world's leading general medical journal and specialty journals in Oncology, Neurology and Infectious Diseases. This article discusses The Fine Arts Workshop for Children with Cancer, a workshop conducted at the Department of Paediatrics, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France. One of the authors, Géricot, has been teaching art at the Department of Paediatrics since 1995. This is an informative article written for the medical field describing art workshops for children with cancer.
The projects include making and decorating masks, creating pictures titled Life on the Ward, and self-portraits. Although all three projects are beneficial, Géricot believes it is through self-portrait that the children find a way to explore their identities and the effect of cancer on their lives. This project reveals “the children’s desire and ability to preserve their personal identity and reject any uniform notion of what it means to be a child with cancer”. Art provides the children with a creative way to explore and express their experience of cancer. It helps the children recognize their value and “has proved to be a rewarding experience for both patients and staff”. The Department of Paediatrics, Institut Gustave-Roussy believe, “Cancer is a destructive disease, but it does not crush creativity.” This article supports the idea of teaching a self-portrait lesson and lists the benefits associated with the lesson. It is in agreement with Caruso and Johnson.
Johnson, E. R. (2009). Emily R. Johnson Artist and Art Therapist in Louisville, KY. Segment from Insight Communications Villionaire. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsTgQG2wvz8.
Emily R. Johnson is an artist and expressive art therapist with Norton Cancer Institute at Kosair Children's Hospital. She graduated with a degree in studio art. After working for two years in a children’s hospital as an art instructor, she went to graduate school and received her MA in Expressive Art Therapy. This video is an informative piece on Johnson. It features her work as an art therapist and her personal artwork. It is very informative and gives insight and direction into art projects that help children with cancer.
In this video, Johnson shares that a lot of the children she works with are really scared and really angry. Artwork is a way for them to talk about their feelings safely. It’s a way to express what they are feeling when they may not have the language to do so. She explains that sometimes the children do not even know how they are feeling and those feelings come out through their artwork. She states, “Artwork provides children that do not have any control over their lives, to have an area that they do have control over.”
This goes along with what Shannan Murray, CAP’s executive director said. Johnson is also in agreement with the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital, in that she believes it is also important to include art projects for family members.
Parker, Beth. (2011). Art Therapy for Kids with Cancer – WTTG [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGm0DGr9imA.
This YouTube video is a news clip from Fox 5, WTTG television station in Washington D.C. that covers an art exhibit at Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. The exhibit is called A Day I Will Never Forget and features artwork created by children with cancer and their family members. The purpose of this video is to advertise the exhibit and describe the artists (children with cancer and family members) from around the world.
The idea behind this show follows the same principle as the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Children’s Art Project. It allows children with cancer to do something ordinary that other children do while providing a setting where feelings can come out that otherwise might not; feelings that the child may not realize are even there. One difference from CAP is this program includes not only cancer patients but also family members. This is in agreement with Johnson. It seeks to support and encourage the whole family through the illness. I believe the theme of the exhibit is good. It provides a topic and a variety of supplies, allowing the artists to use their imagination and create.
Scott, E. (2011). The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management. In About.com Stress Management ed online. Retrieved from http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm.
The author of this article is Elizabeth Scott, a wellness coach, author, and health educator. She is an award-winning blogger with training in counseling, family therapy, and health psychology. Scott’s book, Keys to Stress Management is due out in March of this year. Currently, she creates all the content on About.com’s stress management site, and edits their Healthy Monday Newsletter.
In this article, Scott discusses the benefits of journaling and states that the health benefits of journaling have been scientifically proven. She writes that journaling allows people to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge. It helps one process traumatic events and illnesses by fully exploring and releasing the emotions involved. Scott forcefully states that journaling “strengthens the immune system and counteracts many of the negative effects of stress”. It is a good practice for people who are not able to be physically active. She believes it is a great practice for overall stress reduction as well as self-knowledge and emotional healing.
On the other hand, Scott lists drawbacks to journaling. Unhelpful consequences could result with people who struggle with perfectionism or learning disabilities. In addition, people who focus only on their negative feelings without incorporating positive thoughts can fail to benefit from it.
The information in Scott’s article is easy to understand and comprehend. It is written for the computer user seeking information relating to stress management. It provides positive input and confirms the benefits of journaling but also brings to light things to be watchful for.
Thomas, J. (1990). Masterpiece of the Month. Huntington Beach: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Teacher Created Resources (TCR) publishes this source. TCR is an educational publishing company founded in 1977 by Mary Dupuy Smith, a classroom teacher. TCR is a leading publisher of supplementary educational material and all their publications are quality resource books, focusing on specific areas of study, written by teachers for teachers. The author’s purpose for this writing is to help other teachers teach art effectively.
Masterpiece of the Month provides a lesson plan called The Torn Hat that covers basic instructions on portraits, proportions, placement, and balance for face drawing. These can easily be followed and executed resulting in a favorable drawing. Although the lesson is recommended for younger children it can be adapted for older students.
The main purpose for this resource is to gather information for a self-portrait drawing to possibly be used in connection with a project called Self-portraits and Frida Kahlo. The lesson is designed to help children express thoughts, feelings, and/or personal values.
1 The description for ACS is retrieved from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13412
2 Hunte, R. (2009). Children’s Art Project: Children’s Cancer Hospital Child Life. Retreieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsf3CGqrulQ
This short article was written to promote the arts for the Greater Philadephia Cultural Alliance, the premier leadership, advocacy and audience development organization for arts and culture in Philadephia. The author is Q. Allen, a visual artist and transformative art facilitator who has lead over 400 group experiences. The article is informative, descriptive, and detailed.
Allen describes a specific art workshop held for cancer patients. She discusses her preparation, the workshop procedures, the patients in attendance, and the success of the workshop. Within the article she includes specific details in her preparation for the workshop: she simplified the art-making process as much as possible; chose easy to use and non-toxic art materials; ensured the room was odor and fragrance-free; and paid special attention to the temperature and seating arrangements. These facts were insightful and helpful. Allen describes the lessons she prepared and the people that attended. Some of the people were in visible pain while others were not. The overall response was positive.
Art Therapy. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.cancer.org/treatment/treatmentsandsideeffects/complementaryandalternative
medicine/mindbodyandspirit/art-therapy.
The American Cancer Society is a “nationwide community-based voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem.”1 This article is published on their website and accessed through their support and treatment tab. It is written for the general public to inform cancer patients or family members of cancer patients about art therapy.
While the article claims, “many clinicians have observed and documented significant benefits among people who have used art therapy” it also states, “art therapy has not been studied scientifically to find out if it has value for people with cancer”. Specifics covered in the article include: an explanation of what art therapy is, how it is used, what it involves, the history behind it, and what kind of evidence supports it. It defines art therapy as “a way to help people manage physical and emotional problems by using creative activities to express emotions”. It involves working with patients individually or in groups. Practitioners say it helps people express hidden emotions; reduces stress, fear, and anxiety; and provides a sense of freedom. It is in agreement with the news video by Beth Parker, and the video of Emily Johnson in its view that children can express difficult emotions in their lives more easily through drawings than through conventional therapy.
Carroll, Maureen. (2011). Who Am I? Exploring Identities. In THIRTEEN ed online. Retrieved from http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/lessons/whoami/index.html.
Thirteen Ed Online is public television's award-winning Web service for teachers. PBS developed this website as a free service that features everything from standards-based lesson plans and classroom activities to online mentors, and reviews of curriculum-based Web sites. Who Am I? Exploring Identities is a lesson plan devised for students to define identity and consider who they are and what they value. A teacher wrote this lesson plan for high school students. It is detailed and includes a variety of activities.
One part of this lesson is called an identity map. In this activity students create a map that depicts all the components that make up their own identity, including the various roles they play. The students put a circle in the center of the map to represent them. Next they draw lines out from the circle and write words such as loyal, artist, athlete, etc. Although this is intended for older students, it can be adopted into a collage lesson for younger children. Caruso, Géricot, and Johnson are in agreement that art projects on the subject of identity help children with diseases express their feelings.
Caruso, I. (2009). Art’s Healing Powers. Saturday Evening Post, 281, 70-73.
Caruso is an author based out of New York. He has written books and articles for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Washington Post, and the History Channel Magazine, and more. This informative article is written for the Saturday Evening Post and covers what Caruso believes to be indisputable growing evidence of art’s therapeutic benefits. Caruso is not promoting a specific program but presenting research from a collection of different programs. It provides positive input for the benefits of art for patients of various diseases.
Caruso includes information to support his belief in the benefits of art for patients from: an art program that works with patients through Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota; a free monthly program for Alzheimer’s patients through Museum of Modern Art in New York; art workshops offered at Hewlett House, a cancer-support resource center on Long Island; the University of Michigan Health System’s Art Cart program; and from the art therapist of Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center in Baltimore. Some of Caruso’s claims include: art helps ailing children gain some control over their helplessness; art reduces pain in cancer patients; art results in improvement in pain and significant improvement in mood and anxiety reduction; art allows suppressed emotions to surface; art stimulates our neurology; art counteracts feelings of helplessness; art is a vehicle to communicate
emotions that children may not be able to articulate; and finally, art has helped as much as any medication. Caruso’s findings follow the believes of Géricot and Johnson.
Fitzgerald, W. (2011). Signs of Hope: Children’s Art Project. In Conquest Fall 2011 ed online. Retrieved from http://www.mdanderson.org/publications/conquest/issues/2011- fall/children-s-art-project.html#
This article is from Conquest, a quarterly publication by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Conquest highlights MD Anderson's new cancer research and treatments, innovative patient services, programs and facilities, strategies to prevent cancer, and human interest stories about patients, donors, faculty, staff and volunteers. In this article, Fitzgerald talks about the Children’s Art Program (CAP) at MD Anderson Cancer Center. The thirty-nine year old program, made possible with assistance from volunteers and art instructors, is for children diagnosed with cancer. It provides the opportunity for these children to work alongside each other, building a bond between them. As the children create art, they support, inspire, and encourage one another. The author shares personal testimonies from children and parents who have benefitted from the program. He goes on to tell of participants who eventually return to volunteer at the center.
“During treatment so much is out of the patient’s control, but the time spent creating artwork allows each child to feel empowered,” says Shannan Murray, CAP’s executive director. “It’s a creative outlet that provides a way to look beyond the disease, and this offers the patient hope.” This is in agreement with Caruso and Johnson.
Although the author is writing the article to promote MD Anderson Cancer Center, Child Life Specialist, Renee Hunte2, is in agreement with Fitzgerald. She believes that programs like CAP benefit children being treated for cancer by helping them look beyond the disease. CAP is a testimony to the benefits of an art program for children with cancer.
Géricot, C., Hartman, O., Oppenheim, D. (2002) The Fine Arts Workshop for Children with Cancer. Lancet, 360, 345.
The Lancet is the world's leading general medical journal and specialty journals in Oncology, Neurology and Infectious Diseases. This article discusses The Fine Arts Workshop for Children with Cancer, a workshop conducted at the Department of Paediatrics, Institut Gustave-Roussy, Villejuif, France. One of the authors, Géricot, has been teaching art at the Department of Paediatrics since 1995. This is an informative article written for the medical field describing art workshops for children with cancer.
The projects include making and decorating masks, creating pictures titled Life on the Ward, and self-portraits. Although all three projects are beneficial, Géricot believes it is through self-portrait that the children find a way to explore their identities and the effect of cancer on their lives. This project reveals “the children’s desire and ability to preserve their personal identity and reject any uniform notion of what it means to be a child with cancer”. Art provides the children with a creative way to explore and express their experience of cancer. It helps the children recognize their value and “has proved to be a rewarding experience for both patients and staff”. The Department of Paediatrics, Institut Gustave-Roussy believe, “Cancer is a destructive disease, but it does not crush creativity.” This article supports the idea of teaching a self-portrait lesson and lists the benefits associated with the lesson. It is in agreement with Caruso and Johnson.
Johnson, E. R. (2009). Emily R. Johnson Artist and Art Therapist in Louisville, KY. Segment from Insight Communications Villionaire. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsTgQG2wvz8.
Emily R. Johnson is an artist and expressive art therapist with Norton Cancer Institute at Kosair Children's Hospital. She graduated with a degree in studio art. After working for two years in a children’s hospital as an art instructor, she went to graduate school and received her MA in Expressive Art Therapy. This video is an informative piece on Johnson. It features her work as an art therapist and her personal artwork. It is very informative and gives insight and direction into art projects that help children with cancer.
In this video, Johnson shares that a lot of the children she works with are really scared and really angry. Artwork is a way for them to talk about their feelings safely. It’s a way to express what they are feeling when they may not have the language to do so. She explains that sometimes the children do not even know how they are feeling and those feelings come out through their artwork. She states, “Artwork provides children that do not have any control over their lives, to have an area that they do have control over.”
This goes along with what Shannan Murray, CAP’s executive director said. Johnson is also in agreement with the Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital, in that she believes it is also important to include art projects for family members.
Parker, Beth. (2011). Art Therapy for Kids with Cancer – WTTG [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGm0DGr9imA.
This YouTube video is a news clip from Fox 5, WTTG television station in Washington D.C. that covers an art exhibit at Lombardi Cancer Center at Georgetown University Hospital. The exhibit is called A Day I Will Never Forget and features artwork created by children with cancer and their family members. The purpose of this video is to advertise the exhibit and describe the artists (children with cancer and family members) from around the world.
The idea behind this show follows the same principle as the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Children’s Art Project. It allows children with cancer to do something ordinary that other children do while providing a setting where feelings can come out that otherwise might not; feelings that the child may not realize are even there. One difference from CAP is this program includes not only cancer patients but also family members. This is in agreement with Johnson. It seeks to support and encourage the whole family through the illness. I believe the theme of the exhibit is good. It provides a topic and a variety of supplies, allowing the artists to use their imagination and create.
Scott, E. (2011). The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management. In About.com Stress Management ed online. Retrieved from http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/p/profilejournal.htm.
The author of this article is Elizabeth Scott, a wellness coach, author, and health educator. She is an award-winning blogger with training in counseling, family therapy, and health psychology. Scott’s book, Keys to Stress Management is due out in March of this year. Currently, she creates all the content on About.com’s stress management site, and edits their Healthy Monday Newsletter.
In this article, Scott discusses the benefits of journaling and states that the health benefits of journaling have been scientifically proven. She writes that journaling allows people to clarify their thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge. It helps one process traumatic events and illnesses by fully exploring and releasing the emotions involved. Scott forcefully states that journaling “strengthens the immune system and counteracts many of the negative effects of stress”. It is a good practice for people who are not able to be physically active. She believes it is a great practice for overall stress reduction as well as self-knowledge and emotional healing.
On the other hand, Scott lists drawbacks to journaling. Unhelpful consequences could result with people who struggle with perfectionism or learning disabilities. In addition, people who focus only on their negative feelings without incorporating positive thoughts can fail to benefit from it.
The information in Scott’s article is easy to understand and comprehend. It is written for the computer user seeking information relating to stress management. It provides positive input and confirms the benefits of journaling but also brings to light things to be watchful for.
Thomas, J. (1990). Masterpiece of the Month. Huntington Beach: Teacher Created Materials, Inc.
Teacher Created Resources (TCR) publishes this source. TCR is an educational publishing company founded in 1977 by Mary Dupuy Smith, a classroom teacher. TCR is a leading publisher of supplementary educational material and all their publications are quality resource books, focusing on specific areas of study, written by teachers for teachers. The author’s purpose for this writing is to help other teachers teach art effectively.
Masterpiece of the Month provides a lesson plan called The Torn Hat that covers basic instructions on portraits, proportions, placement, and balance for face drawing. These can easily be followed and executed resulting in a favorable drawing. Although the lesson is recommended for younger children it can be adapted for older students.
The main purpose for this resource is to gather information for a self-portrait drawing to possibly be used in connection with a project called Self-portraits and Frida Kahlo. The lesson is designed to help children express thoughts, feelings, and/or personal values.
1 The description for ACS is retrieved from http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=13412
2 Hunte, R. (2009). Children’s Art Project: Children’s Cancer Hospital Child Life. Retreieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsf3CGqrulQ
