Ep 10. Arts & Wellbeing

In this episode, Isabel Fryszberg, a leader in arts-based occupational therapy in Canada, chats with Anna about how she has used the arts to co-create community, build belonging, promote occupational justice, and facilitate wellbeing. We discuss the privilege that is often associated with the arts and the importance of breaking down barriers to accessing the arts. Coming into occupational therapy with a visual arts background and inspired by the Living Museum, Isabel lead the creation of the Creative Works Studio, an art studio to promote wellbeing amongst people living with mental illness in inner city Toronto. Through the Creative Works studio, people discovered their love of art, that they could do it, and some became working artists. Co-designed with members of the studio, 'What's Art Got to Do With It' was born as a way to share knowledge about the impact of the arts on wellbeing and, as a valued occupation, how engagement in the arts can be transformative and enable people to realise their possibilities. Most importantly, we can start doing the arts at any age - we don't need to be good to experience joy doing artistic occupations, and if we want to, we can practice to become skilled.


Recommended links:

Isabel's website: https://www.isabelfryszberg.com/
What's Art Got to Do With It Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_q7bzdl4cA
The Living Museum: https://untappedcities.com/2019/03/25/go-inside-the-living-museum-at-creedmoor-psychiatric-center-in-queens/
The Creative Works Studio: http://creativeworks-studio.ca/site/
Facebook group for occupational therapists interested in bringing arts-based occupations into practice: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2506275573029276

Transcript

Amelia: 0:00

Welcome to the'Do What You Love' podcast. We believe that doing and belonging contribute to wellbeing and through this podcast, we will explore how to share strategies for doing exactly that what you love. Although some members are health and wellbeing professionals. This podcast provides wellness management in an informational manner. Only under no circumstances. Should this podcast substitute for a call or visit with a healthcare professional that is, or can become familiar with your lived experience.

Anna Braunizer: 0:59

Hi everyone! It's Anna here and today I am joined by Isabel Fryszberg, a leader in arts-based occupational therapy practice, and someone who I recently learned from in a six-week course on integrating the arts into practice. She was part of the team that started the Creative Works studio, a community space designed to promote belonging, transformative justice, and freedom of expression amongst people living with mental illness to the art. So welcome, Isabel. To start off our show, please, can you briefly introduce yourself and, your OT path so far?

Isabel Fryszberg: 1:32

Okay. Thank you, Anna. Well, Before I went into occupational therapy, I studied visual arts and I really felt I wanted to have a way to contribute to the world to do service. And when I learned what occupational therapy was about, I thought, wow, maybe that would be an opportunity to put together that wonderful framework that occupational therapy is about- helping people find purpose through meaningful activity, and it's so holistic, and use what I love, which is art-making, and combine them in a contemporary way. So, then I went to U of T and I studied, occupational therapy. And when I graduated, I realized what I had in my mind wasn't really out there. And it seemed like it was very mechanical and It wasn't inspiring to me. So I thought if it's not inspiring to me, how would clients feel? Then I was working at a time that went through a lot of cuts, like a lot of change because of the government, there was, you know, funding was changing and a lot of the money that was given to the hospitals now was given to the community, but without the community having the resources that used to be provided by the hospitals. I saw a need, I saw a need for a program that was creative and social. And what I did know that, um, the people that I worked with, people living with mental illness suffer from isolation and loneliness. I'm a big believer in community and the value of real community, not just saying the word community, but really building a community spirit. So when I was working at, um, st Michael's hospital. I was fortunate at the time to have a very good, director, uh, Jim O'Neill and a manager who supported my vision and I was able to grow it through grant writing and, amazing volunteers. I was really gifted with good volunteers and I was able to hire staff and create a team, and then they could shape the making of the program as well. And it grew, I say it started around 1997, 1998 and, I worked there until, um, 2017. And then there was just, you know, a change in the kind of supports. It grew out of different partnerships, and that's a strength: partnerships and volunteers. And then, you know, there was a change in the structure, the partnership of the program, the hospital amalgamated with two other major hospitals, they shifted their budgets. And so that major support that the Creative Work studio had was lost. Thank goodness the, um, nonprofit transferred the role of management. But, uh, right now it does need new partnerships to, um, grow and be sustained to actually even just be sustained.

Anna Braunizer: 5:09

Yeah. Yeah. I think it really resonates with me, when you're saying you went into occupational therapy, with the value of community and building those genuine communities, um, that's something that I come from when I came into OT, I really wanted to learn, like, how can we build belonging in our world? And, um, how we build belonging through doing and just coming together... What do you think are some things that contribute to community?

Isabel Fryszberg: 5:34

Great question! Safety. Welcome. Acceptance. Diversity. But truly feeling that you're being seen and understood, and that it's a safe place, a place where you could actually go to. Although community, as we could see, can happen online. It has to have a connection where you feel safe to express your voice and that you are being heard and that there's something going on that you're sharing together and everybody's contributing something important, And, what I feel: community can be really wonderful when it's diverse, it can be incredible learning going on.

Anna Braunizer: 6:26

Yeah, that really resonates with me too. For our next question- for part of our podcast, we are all about doing what we love and we look at what those activities can be and we also look at some of the barriers that can sometimes be in place- systemic or social, or physical to doing what we love. So I was wondering, if you could share with me and our audiences, something that you love to do and what this occupation brings for your life.

Isabel Fryszberg: 6:53

I love doing a lot of different things and many of them are creative based and I could share my journey of playing the fiddle as an example. I took up the fiddle when I graduated from, um, occupational therapy school and, it was a new instrument and, I learned how to play it by ear, but I had to change my attitude around it. I had to, um, realize that it's going to sound terrible for a long time, but I have to allow my love of the music. I love fiddle music, and I love the community that fiddle music brings: the jam and the fun and, um, playing with other people. So I had to develop a relationship with my fiddle and not treat it like homework. And that attitude also has influenced... I I'm a painter. I love to paint, but, you know, as a painter, you can be self-critical as well. And I had to learn that to connect to the love of doing something and not being judgmental, but having a mind of curiosity and to enjoy the learning of it, the journey rather than the product.

Anna Braunizer: 8:14

Yeah. I think, especially in our world, we're so concerned about, well, how will I look and how will this, like, I need to look good so I can get this opportunity. But doing things just for the heck of it and doing things just because we love it is so important for our wellbeing.

Isabel Fryszberg: 8:31

I think something that I've been able to hold onto. I strongly remember my kindergarten experience and I loved everything. I loved drawing and painting and playing the piano that was in the room that I had no idea what I was doing cause we didn't have a piano at home. I loved all the little play stations and I just had an excitement about creating. I maintain that. When that doesn't happen, I know I'm in the wrong space and I have to go back to that place to childhood as an adult. And many artists speak about that Picasso, Matisse, Chagall- they all talk about... these 20th century artists talk about needing to go back, as an adult, to the place of childhood or the place of wonder and curiosity. And a lot of great thinkers, maintain that playfulness and curiosity. That's how they innovate.

Anna Braunizer: 9:36

Yeah, it's kind of like seeing what happens. And in the course, when we had that painting exercise from mixed media, I was just like, okay, at first I'm just going to paint yellow. So I'll do a yellow background and like organize some kind of different color textures and photos, I cut up a bunch of scraps, pieces of paper. and also shapes... but then I put on some blue like,'Ooh, this looks like a stormy sea,' so I added a stormy sea. And then I was like"I'll make a sunset to kind of remind me of Nova Scotia, where I went to OT school. I know it looks too, like it doesn't fit the mood of the sea. So then I was like, it's going to be a storm and just kind of taking what comes out of the paper and going with the moment.

Isabel Fryszberg: 10:13

Yeah! So you were connecting and you were relating and you were discovering and you were totally engaged. And that's what it's about. That's when you feel alive, actually.

Anna Braunizer: 10:23

Hm. Yeah. It's bringing back that spirit of place to things

Isabel Fryszberg: 10:26

Exactly!

Anna Braunizer: 10:29

Yeah, I think for me with the arts, I grew up playing piano, since I was six and, um, I up in musical theater, singing, in my car and doing lots of performing. And I never really thought that I was a visual artist when I was a kid, because my brother he was always the artist of the family. When we were young, he was three and there was a local gallery and they were doing this art contest and he got a picture of dinosaurs that went into the art gallery. And I was very critical of my art and stuff through school. I was like,'Oh, this isn't good enough'. Or I'm just trying, I was trying to do things very realistically. And it wasn't until I was a summer camp leader and I started face painting. Um, that I realized'Oh, I can actually do art'. Like, I, I can use these different brush strokes and create different textures and I can actually make art. I started playing more with color and now my style is I do a bit more illustrations and stuff, but for me, like, it was just, I thought my brother was the artist and I was like,'Oh, I'm not good at art.' But then I was like,'actually, I could be'

Isabel Fryszberg: 11:32

I love your story because it really shows how the way we think can be our barrier. To how we think about ourselves, our own identity. I mean, for me, I had the opposite story. I had a little baby piano and I always wanted to play piano, but we didn't have a real piano. And so I wasn't able to nourish that. And my, my sister played guitar. I had a, I have a big sister and she had the guitar. So I thought she was a musician, but, um, later as an adult, when I picked up the fiddle for the first time I started playing that and saw after a while that if I just give it my time and focus, I could play. And so I transferred that to my love and desire to want to sing and write songs. And so I started writing songs and then I ended up getting, you know, getting my sister's guitar. And I started later taking guitar lessons and then later, making a record. And performing and singing. And just recently I released a single and I love songwriting. When you, when you asked what are the loves? I have so many, but you know, creating music and singing and playing with other people is such a joy. And if I stop myself, as an adult, saying, well, you know, I'm just, that's not, that's not me. Instead of allowing myself to find out and have a relationship with, with that form with me and not be too self-critical, but just let myself express. Um, there's a, a great writer, uh, Rupi Kaur who, who says she doesn't know what she's thinking and until she puts it out on paper. So often if I feel so grateful that I do have one of my art forms as musics because when, when I'm in a place where I need to express myself, that's the best time where I could write a song and express that mood, if it's sadness or, you know, anger or any emotion, you could put it into your music. You could write a song about it which is so wonderful.

Anna Braunizer: 14:04

Yeah, I think for me, with music as well, I play Fantasia by Mozart in D minor. And he has so many emotions in it. So whenever I need to process emotions or I just need to feel these things, I'll just go play Fantasia and I'll either exaggerate certain parts or shrink down other parts of like the emotions and the intensity of the emotions and the piece just based on how I feel. Um, And I find that really helpful.

Isabel Fryszberg: 14:29

Yeah. And you're, and that is a great thing that you have that outlet, right?

Anna Braunizer: 14:34

Yeah.

Isabel Fryszberg: 14:35

Just imagine if more people were given opportunities to have that outlet. I mean, I have a, um, a client in a nursing home and, um, we, we do singing on the phone, you know, and singing is the way she, she knows she can, self-regulate her mood.

Anna Braunizer: 14:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yesterday I was like painting with clients. I was talking to a client and the client was like, I think I always wanted to learn an instrument, but there's been stuff that happened in her life that was in the way, like, well, why don't you try now? And so maybe she'll try an instrument. That's one of her goals. I think also recognizing that we can start things at any time. You don't need to do things that we practice for a long time. We can start at any time.

Isabel Fryszberg: 15:23

Yeah. And I, and I think that's one of the myths that we need to challenge more and more. I think, you know, it does take time. It's those hours that you need to put into something that if you want to, you know, really, um, work with it in a way that you can master it, right? You need to give it your time, but you know, it's like any, even a, an athlete or someone who does yoga or, you know, they will do it every day. It's a practice. Or someone who does meditation. You need to give it your time as a practice. And as long as you're not hard on yourself and product driven and see it as a process, then it could be so health-giving and rejuvenating

Anna Braunizer: 16:15

yeah, I love that. I remember when I was doing your course, when you first shared about the creative work studio, I thought this was so cool. Um, for our audience members. Could you please share what the creative work studio is?

Isabel Fryszberg: 16:31

okay. The creative work studio is a space that, um, for adults, with mental health and addiction issues, where they could come to and discover their talents. Many of them have never painted or sang or, you know, but it's a place that provides the resources. It's that real... it's a real studio. It's a actual real art studio where there's all kinds of supplies and there's tables where you're sitting around, feeling a sense of community and, you know, different kinds of activities from painting, pottery, sculpture, songwriting, um, photography, and, you know, you are encouraged to discover, um, your potential and you're guided in a very, Gentle way, you know, at your own pace to find your own voice. And community, of course, is fostered. And there's a lot of sharing and there's a lot of witnessing. So others, you know, um, see your work and respond and then people don't feel so alone. And they also feel very excited by what they're creating. And then we would have art shows, annual exhibits, um, we made a film together. We made an, uh, an album, a music album together. We did songwriting. So you, you would create, and also the way we created, um, we would do communal, um, collaborative artwork so that, um, an issue would come up and we would address that issue through an art piece-something collective. And then we would have an exhibit. So we would encourage, um, we would have the public involved and so there would be an exchange, you know, and that also is a great way of providing knowledge translation and reducing stigma, and, um, having people develop some empathy to learn about things that often aren't discussed.

Anna Braunizer: 19:01

Yeah, it's really to connect with like our common humanity

Isabel Fryszberg: 19:03

Exactly. That is so, so important.

Anna Braunizer: 19:09

Yeah. you talked about how the arts contributed to belonging and wellbeing in those spaces with a few examples. Is there anything else that you think the arts in particular can contribute to belonging and wellbeing?

Isabel Fryszberg: 19:19

Well, the arts is an opportunity to tell your story and to have voice. And, talking is not enough. And it also provides a context. Y'know, if you treat the context with respect and integrity and through an art form. In community art, if you're, you know, you're making a certain piece of work, addressing a theme that everybody is relating to, and then through the creation, you're developing a project that has everybody's voice and thoughts. And then when you exhibit that, then it has another voice, a new voice, and there's a, there's a dialogue that happens and there's learning that happens, you know? Um, I remember that happened when we made our film'What's Art Got To Do With It?' and it was incredible how, where we started and, and having a film speak to a live audience and see how proud our members who were in the film became.

Anna Braunizer: 20:33

Yeah, that film was really beautiful. In your course, you had lots of quotes and stuff from different artists. And this is a quote from William Morris, who, for those of you who don't know, he's an English textile designer, um, lots of nature and florals and birds in his art and patterns. Um, and he expresses the belief that the arts are for everyone. How do you think that the arts can contribute to transformative justice?

Isabel Fryszberg: 21:00

Great question. Um, well, William Morris, his work grew out of the time where industrialization was taking over society and people were losing their connection to handcraft and, and making things and community. Today I think, um, the arts is a very powerful way of, as I said earlier, of giving voice and expressing a message that needs to be heard or seen, and it's also an important media where diverse voices can be heard. I think the biggest, in order to have that, justice, you need to provide the equity of resources so that that can happen. And often music and art is a privilege. It costs money,- if you could provide these resources equally, so that the most vulnerable, who often don't have the resources, are given the access and they have voice and they could create something that we could learn something about. And then we could access art. We can expand our, our humanity,

Anna Braunizer: 22:25

Yeah.

Isabel Fryszberg: 22:26

You know, there is, um, cause hearing their voices changes the way we understand others. And that's, that's what creates a more expansive humanity.

Anna Braunizer: 22:40

Yeah, it goes back to the comment on diversity and just how we can build diversity within our humanity. And like, recognizing that there is diversity in the humanity. It's like, we're here, we're all here. And we're all human.

Isabel Fryszberg: 22:52

Exactly. But if we don't, you know, if we don't have the ways to sort of reflect on it, and we need those mediums for reflection, print is not enough. Seeing it in just, um, words. We need stories- stories that can be shaped by art, visual art, or shaped by songs or shaped by film or animation or photography or a book. Those are opportunities where we could take time. We need time to absorb. And have dialogue on these things. Or else we're robots. Yeah. the arts- it's definitely, I think for me, what makes us human. Exactly from the very beginning, from the very beginning.

Anna Braunizer: 23:48

Yeah. Something so talking about connecting as humans and like co-designing and building bridges, um, something that stood out for me about the documentary film,'What's art got to do with it?' was how it was co-designed and in the course you expressed that you didn't want to start it too early. You wanted to wait to do something like it, to wait until it was an idea of the members. Um, how do you think that co-design and creative mediums for knowledge sharing can shape our worlds?

Isabel Fryszberg: 24:16

Well, that's, that's a great question because, um, co-designing gives people the voice. It's not easy. You have to sit back- you may have a vision of how you want things, but you know, you need to sort of let go and wait so that people could take ownership and share it and see what is emerging. And, you know, even though I had that thought, Oh, you know, cause as. As, um, I, I might've said to you that I've made some films before, and I always had that excitement of, Oh, this, this, this studio would make a wonderful film. And I saw previously'The living museum,' which was a film about a program in New York, which also inspired me. I didn't mention that story, but one of the influences for Creative Works was Living Museum in, uh, Queens, New York. And that was a 40,000 square foot studio. Okay. And the, uh, founder, who is the psychologist, the co-founder, he told me that my job was to'create a space and to create with others.'

Anna Braunizer: 25:35

Okay.

Isabel Fryszberg: 25:36

'Find a studio. You need to find a studio and then you need to make art with others.' And so I took his advice literally, but to make art with others, to, to make a film, I needed them to feel that they trusted me, that they were ready to be seen because they were sharing their stories, their vulnerable stories. And then you get to feel, the safety and the conviction that their stories can make a difference and that they were ready to tell their story. The process that I also did that is we had, you know, we would toss the camera back and forth. They would have an opportunity to hold the camera and to interview others, they would have an opportunity to design interview questions. That made all the difference in the shaping of the film. They would look at the film and, you know, even though they didn't have a hands-on way of editing it there, they would inform the editing. They would say what they liked, what they weren't comfortable with. And I would hear them and take that back to the editing table.

Anna Braunizer: 26:48

So cool! Co-design and partnerships- it's just like one of my big passions and something I want to build more in our profession and in our healthcare systems.

Isabel Fryszberg: 26:57

And what like I also brought in a professional editor, a professional camera person to work with us because I felt we needed to partner with others so the making of it can, can be substantial.

Anna Braunizer: 27:18

Totally. Thinking back to our COVID context right now with all the theaters closed galleries- some of them are open, some of them are closed- and lots of museums are closed and cutting back on our in-person programs, what are ways that you think we can use the arts to connect people and connect people with the arts?

Isabel Fryszberg: 27:40

Great question and we're seeing it right now. online is one way that people are starting, even though, you know, we could criticize that too much. Um, being on a mobile or computer is hard on us, but when, when these tools can bring us together, it's pretty awesome. I mean, we're seeing a lot of streaming of music, right? And that brings people together and seeing people from all over. You know, like when I go to a music live stream and I see friends in the States and from Europe, it's so exciting that that is a connection, you know, or the feedback you get. Instagram, the way that, you know, when you put a painting, one of your paintings and then you get people connecting on it. But I think we're still, um, at the beginning of figuring out ways that we can build community. Cause we recognize this is important. So in places like online, how to get more people engaged and to hear everybody's voice. In our online class, we, we have been developing a community. It surprised me how. This format, because I was used to doing a workshop. And then, um, through the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapy- before COVID, they suggested that we go online because there was such an interest and I was a bit skeptical. But then when I saw, um, it, my first time doing it in May, how people... the discussion board was so lively and that people started to express their, their feelings and the reactions that they may not have in a class, right? But you know, we're used to texting now we're used to email, so people are more fluid in, in putting out their own thoughts. And when we read each other's thoughts, that kind of reinforces more energy and more discussion and conversation. So I think it's about using the online resources to create a conversation and a dialogue which is very exciting. And the arts can do that because the arts actually taps into an emotion.

Anna Braunizer: 30:09

Yeah.

Isabel Fryszberg: 30:10

You know, when, when you see a moving music experience... uh, just two days ago, I heard a John Prine tune, um, streamed live stream by all these different, wonderful artists that I love and do that in their home. And then it was edited in such a beautiful connecting way that it provided an emotion that everyone connected to.

Anna Braunizer: 30:41

Yeah, I think for me that reminds me o like the expressionists and arts and that period and everything- personally expressionism's.my favourite style of art just because of all the emotion that comes through it. Um,

Isabel Fryszberg: 30:52

'Expressionists' did you say?

Anna Braunizer: 30:54

Yeah. Expressionists.

Isabel Fryszberg: 30:55

yes, I love them.

Anna Braunizer: 30:59

Yeah. Are there any other things you wanted to talk about before we get to the golden nugget?

Isabel Fryszberg: 31:04

Well, I think, yes, I think that we're living in a time that requires change. And I think that the need for more resources for mental health for social health is stronger. And we, instead of cutting back the resources, we need to find the resources to create communities, safe communities that can create wellness and healing and safety and, and allow people to create together and to work with other artists. And, and I feel occupational therapists can do that. We know the importance of groups. We know the importance of occupation and meaning and purpose. We need purpose more today. We, more than any other time and occupation, the meaning of how we use our time right now is totally being changed. The 9-5 world, our going to work world the way we used to go to work is changing. This is where, as occupational therapists, we need to know both our history and our current time of what we can do to take risks, to change things.

Anna Braunizer: 32:33

yeah, I think, I think we have lots of power to change things as OTs. That was something that that's why I started beyond COVID and the do what you love podcasts. So it

Isabel Fryszberg: 32:41

I think it's great, Anna. I love what you're doing.

Anna Braunizer: 32:44

It's just like, Oh my gosh, like, this is perfect for OT is my OT brain. Like how can we connect people? How can we do things and just promote doing and wellbeing, just random things just doing for the heck of it. And, um, Just doing, because we love it. Like, I think, part of me being, going through OT school, like I used to be quite perfectionistic before OT school and I think OT school kind of like, I came to this concept of just failing forward and, seeing what happens. And sometimes we make mistakes and we're still moving forward and we're learning and we can do that together.

Isabel Fryszberg: 33:19

Yes. I like that. Moving forward is really important to see solutions and find the solutions right now.

Anna Braunizer: 33:28

totally. Any last golden nuggets that you have?

Isabel Fryszberg: 33:34

Golden nuggets? I would say, to seize the opportunities creatively; that we all need to find our voice, that we all need to nourish our voice and take the time during COVID to reflect. And, and to be honest with ourselves,'What is meaningful to us? What do we really want to do? What do we feel is really important for others to do that?' And to make the present moment so more richer and valuable and alive, you know, rather than being in that place of fear or worry, you know, to how do we instill more life and creativity for ourselves and others?

Anna Braunizer: 34:25

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining me today, Isabel. I love this conversation and I wish you all the best.

Isabel Fryszberg: 34:34

Oh, same to you! Great show Anna! I love what, you know, this is such a good thing that you're doing.

Anna Braunizer: 34:40

Thank-you.

35:20

Music for the,'Do What You Love' podcast was provided by Purple Planet on royalty free download service.