Therapist Sarah's Art Journey Towards Self-Compassion
This article was written by FlowArt Therapy's Sarah Hie, who specializes in working with neurodivergent individuals, couples, polycules, and other relationship styles. Sarah is currently welcoming new clients at our practice.
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My Art Journey
Art has always been a way for me to connect to myself, my experiences, and to better understand the world around me. Art began as a way for me to daydream, or to get through long days at school. I began by tracing images that I felt deeply connected to, or images where I craved to learn the way to draw a certain object, or understand the artist’s style.
One day in fifth grade, my teacher taught me the way she learned how to draw a human eye. I became fixated on memorizing how to do this, and practice drawing it over and over and over. This would happen many times over the years, with other designs. Trees, bubbles, faces, and more. Overtime, I began to create my own style.
I have always enjoyed creating surreal images that have a unique flow to them, often precarious balances of objects that shouldn’t be able to exist the way they do. My art often tells a story of the emotional state I am in currently, whether I have a vision for the image before beginning to draw or not. Often times, the art comes from a free flowing, thought process, where I often don’t know what the image will be until the end.
Only within the past couple of years, as I have begun to explore art more professionally, have I begun to plan for a specific image before beginning to draw. Still, my idea often begins as a rough sketch, or one specific part of the image I’d like to do, and the finished piece itself has taken on a life of its own.
This process makes me feel incredibly connected to my art. It is often vulnerable, evocative, and full of small details. Each image is symbolic, I love to create a story of self-reflection and a sense of something ambiguous or unfinished in many of the pieces. Maybe this is because I’m always continuing to search for more of myself along the way!
As a therapist, who is not a licensed art therapist, it has been a unique experience to bring elements of art into therapy still. Whether a client is working on something creative of their own alongside me, or a client engages in an artistic prompt for session, so much can be gained from including art in a therapeutic or personal regular practice.
I find that a creative outlet during a session often facilitates conversation, guides clients to engage in self reflection, and can often help people to visualize or communicate part of their emotional experiences more deeply.
As a neurodivergent person, I also find that sometimes creating art helps me to communicate things to myself in a way that I wasn’t able to see or understand before. I feel that through art, I know myself on a deeper level, and in turn have learned different ways to communicate my experiences to myself and others.
I used to see a therapist who told me long ago, “Art doesn’t have to be good to be art. Do you enjoy creating it? Then, it is art.“
I told myself that my art wasn’t good enough to be shared for a long time. So much of me was afraid to lose the joy I have in creating art, as soon as there was pressure for others to see it, and to judge it.
I’ve been professionally sharing my art for about a year and a half now, and feel more connected to it than I ever have before. That said, I look back on my earlier self with compassion. Her art was still art, and if only she knew how secure she could feel in that knowledge! I’m proud to be an artist, and can’t wait to see where art takes me next!
“Sentience” February, 2024
“Passing By” November, 2023
“Perceived Weight” August, 2023
“Precarious” April, 2024
Sarah Dennon (She/Her), Artist
Sarah Hie (She/Her), LMFTA
Sarah Hie, LMFTA
Marriage and Family Therapy Associate, FlowArt Therapy
Focus on neurodivergent individuals, couples, polycules from a sex-positive lens
