Art as Healing
The founder of Above + Beyond Cancer, Dr. Richard Deming speaks with this week’s guest, Pamela Crouch, an artist, teacher, and four-time cancer survivor. Pamela went to Augustana College in Rock Island, IL where she studied Communications, Theater, Music, and Secondary Education. Pamela worked as a middle school teacher during her earlier career and now works at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport.
Pamela has been practicing art as a form of healing for nearly 14 years. In her early years, she worked as a dancer, singer, theater, and doing improv where she focused on performance and writing. After going through breast, melanoma, and ovarian cancer, Pamela says that each time her cancer recurred, something would occur which would cause her to ‘reinvent herself’, finding new accessible joy and passion. For example, one of the first times Pamela was diagnosed with cancer, she developed aphasia which made it hard for her to write, so she picked up photography. She recounts that she then developed lymphedema which made it difficult to focus and hold a large lens so she switched to collage and assemblage to tell stories. Pamela’s last treatment for cancer was in 2020, she is now back to writing and working on a book with her beagle, Cooper, called Dr. Cooper’s Guide to Cancer.
Pamela discusses how her art has allowed her to express her emotions and how her poems and work have been a way for her to expose her fears of cancer. Adversity challenges individuals to grow, change, and find out new things about themselves. Pamela discussed that because of her creativity, her son now makes jewelry, her husband is in theater, and her daughter now attends art classes with her.
Dr. Deming and Pamela Crouch discuss the healing power of creating art throughout the interview. Pamela notes that there is a direct medical link between creating art and the reduction of cortisol which helps with general stress, stress from cancer, and the stress of possible cancer recurrence. According to similar research, the practice of art is proven to help reduce stress and negative effects. However, this research also specifically found that an art-therapist facilitated session can lead to superior improvements in positive affect, creative agency, self-efficacy, and reduction of perceived stress. Pamela notes that when people's hands are busy, their minds become calm, similar to the practice of mindfulness. She encourages setting intentions before creating art by slowing down breathing to encourage awareness of feelings and intentions of the project ahead.
To get involved in our Virtual Healing Arts Program contact mary@aboveandbeyondcancer.org
For more, check out this conversation in detail on Above + Beyond Cancer's Youtube page.
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BA Ethics & Public Policy, BBA Management, minor Social Justice
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