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After the tornado hit Joplin on May 22nd, Judith Fowler felt the need to help. But she knew she could do more than sort clothes or hand out food. Fowler is a certified art therapist, and she wanted to offer her skills helping people cope with their emotions following the devastating storm.
After going through several people, she was able to find a place to hold an art therapy camp in Joplin—at the women’s shelter Lafayette House…
"We did all day for five days at the Layfayette House. And so we worked with, oh I would say, 80 children and probably four groups of women that had maybe 12 to 15 women in each group."
She had help from art therapists from Oklahoma, Nebraska and Louisiana. They also offered art therapy and therapeutic art at a church in Joplin…
"We had like five tables running--I think it was painting at one table, writing at another, clay work at another, collage at one. And then we had--there was music therapy going on."
Fowler has also worked with six survivors of the tornado at the Freeman Ozark Mental Health Center.
She teaches art full-time at Missouri State University, but has two houses—one in Springfield (it’s the one near campus with the hatchet in the tree) and one in Joplin, so the tornado hit close to home for her. She plans to offer her services to the people of Joplin as much as she can on weekends because she says art therapy can be “powerful”…
"It helps them look at their problems. It helps them talk about their problems to a counselor or a psychologist or an art therapist. It helps them see their progress. The art works become a document of progress."
There’s a difference between therapeutic art and art therapy, according to Fowler. Therapeutic art, she says, is doing art for relaxation. The end result of art therapy is treatment…
"And the process--the art therapist watching you do your art work is like the telephone line between two, you know, a telephone. You know, the therapist, here's the line of communication and the client. And so, art therapy's that line, that connection."
Fowler earned her MFA degree from the University of Utah. But she later decided to combine her empathy for people in trouble with her art. She received her art therapy training at the University of Illinois in Chicago, at the University of Oklahoma and at the University of Kansas in Emporia.
Her 2500 required clinical hours were done at the Burrell Center, at Cox Health, at St. John’s and at the Institute Curies in Paris.
When she finished, she planned to practice art therapy as a career, but, just as she completed her degree, a job she had applied for as a full-time professor of art at Missouri State University panned out.
Today she uses her art therapy training to teach future K-12 art students in her college classes how to use art to help kids who need it. And she’s founded an organization, Art on Wheels-Missouri. Originally named Art on Wheels-Art from the Heart of Missouri, the organization was formed to help those affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She delivered art supplies to school, art centers and shelters in the affected areas with the support of the Louisiana Art Therapy Association.
After the tornado hit Joplin, the organization not only provided therapeutic art and art therapy to victims, it also donated art supplies to teachers in Joplin and the surrounding area.
According to Fowler, art therapy uses very basic supplies like crayons, markers, clay and watercolors. In some cases, those she works with get to take supplies home. She says art therapy can help people cope with whatever situation they’re facing…
"If they're, you know, feeling like life is terrible and things are falling apart, it helps empower them in terms of feeling worthy of continuing on and feeling like they are of value."
She’s worked with people from age three to 98. For older people in nursing homes, Fowler says art therapy helps validate their lives…
"When I'm working with older people sometimes I've heard the same story over and over, but I pretend that I've never heard it so it's helping them witness their life, and it helps them still feel valuable."
Meanwhile, Fowler is excited about the possibility of helping at the Children’s Trauma Center established by Freeman Hospital for kids who are still having trouble coping with the emotions the tornado left behind. She feels she’s been able to make a difference in the lives of the six tornado survivors she’s worked with at the Ozark Mental Health Center…
"Those six people that I've been working with, it's changed their life. One lady was an artist, so, naturally, when someone donated a big wooden case full of art supplies, I gave that to her."
Fowler looks forward to working with more people affected by the Joplin tornado and also to maybe providing training for nurses and for counselors at the Ozark Mental Health Center. And she plans to give a presentation to the National Art Educators Association to help other states create an organization similar to Art on Wheels-Missouri.
To learn more about Art on Wheels, visit artonwheels-missouri.net.
For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.
