Sometimes there are no words for grief.
Finding creative ways to explore this experience can help during the grieving process, says Tamar Swartz, a bereavement counsellor, registered social worker and visual artist with expressive arts training who leads a new Victoria Hospice workshop for people in bereavement.
Exploring Grief through Creativity workshops provide a supportive way to explore experiences of grief and loss through mixed media, incorporating drawing, painting, and collage. No art experience is required—just a willingness to try something new.
“For many people, art-making can be vulnerable” Tamar says. “All the inner critics show up, such as when creations didn’t look like what they were ‘supposed to’. But in this space, there are no right or wrong ways of creating.”
The workshop isn’t about composition or realistic representations, Tamar says. She encourages participants to follow their own creativity, and in this context, pair it with their grief.
“Mixed media expressive art has a way of revealing incredible insights and emotions that go beyond words.”
After Vicki Sanders’ husband died in their 60th year of marriage, she tried an Exploring Grief through Creativity workshop which “helped to take away the intensity of my grief,” she says. “I could focus not so much on what happened but on what our life together was about.”
“The fact that you can use something that’s physically tangible to express your feelings and acknowledge your loss, is very healing.” Vicki says she loved sharing her piece and learning about what others had done. “It’s nice to hear from other grieving people in a safe environment because you realize you are not alone. It’s important to get it out and not to keep it in.”
Being with others who understand helps, Tamar says. “Other participants may have experienced different circumstances to their loss, but there are also similarities in the challenges of losing someone important.” Just like each relationship, each piece of artwork created in the workshops is unique and deeply meaningful. “Grief is very much a process,” Tamar says.
“The workshops provide a mini-container for working with the idea of processes and everything grief brings.”
Offered in half-day workshops and a six-week group at the Victoria Hospice Community Support Centre on Chatterton Way, Exploring Grief through Creativity draws on themes such as self-care and celebrating the life of the person who has died. Learn more about the Exploring Grief through Creativity workshops on our Events page.