Mourning, Memory and Life Itself: Essays by an Art Therapist

Junge, an art therapist and retired professor at Loyola Marymount U., collects six new and nine previously published essays she wrote on art therapy from 1986 to the present, many written from a feminist point of view. She arranges essays by sections on the psychology of art, creativity, social action, clinical applications of art therapy, and the profession. Specific topics consider mourning, memory, the AIDS quilt, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; the works of Georgia O'Keeffe; the creativity of Frida Kahlo and Diane Arbus; the art therapist as a social activist; working with people of color; art therapy as a woman's profession; preventive techniques to help families deal with death; and brief psychodynamic family art therapy. The book is intended for therapists and other mental health professionals, artists, educators, and art lovers. There is no index. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)