Renate Faulhaber   

Excerpt from a publication in Cahiers de Gestalt-thérapie "formes et actes" 2007/1 (n°20), Expressed, European College of Gestalt Therapy.

"Experiment - and not represent"

                                                                                                Renate Faulhaber

 
Suddenly, I hear myself say that little sentence

It was during a workshop I was giving.

A workshop announced as an experimentation workshop:

"Giving Fine Arts a Place in Gestalt Therapy"

I was under tension, 18 participants, I was looking for my words - and then, this sentence!

In fact, it was nothing special that sentence.

But suddenly, as it was said in front of an audience, who heard it and acted, I could understand its strength:

Not knowing, not knowing - already that, a whole story....

Not to have a preconceived idea of the result, of a beautiful work.

Be open to being surprised.

Accept the unexpected, even beautiful "mistakes" and "missed" things!

To be more attentive to the present moment, to my condition, to my feelings.

Let the movement settle in and follow it.

Be attentive to materials.

What does this contact with matter do to me?

How and where am I affected?

How do I want to react?

 
I started this workshop with a new idea:

I proposed to discover, to first appropriate the paper, the background.

There were large surfaces of kraft paper, which invited the whole body to engage in experimentation.

Then I saw such diverse things happening before my eyes:

Already, it started with an incredible sound, that of wrinkling, tearing, the encounter between air and paper, evoked by gestures from all states.

There were papers that turned into wings, flying carpets, sleeping bags, sand castles... nests. And there were some who became real living skins... who began to breathe under the hands of the paper facilitator.

Blowing the soul into the material....

Giving life, birth... creating... and yes!

To be in here, to touch the material, to let oneself be touched by the material.

And then the color, the liquid or the pastels:

"What color do I need?"

Scrubbed deep into the paper.

Washed.

Like gestures that clean up, clean up.

Also, the paper touched with delicacy, small touches, touches, retouching.

What do I feel?

Very small, very close.

I make a gesture, I see his trace.

Travel from moment to moment.

In the colour spots that gradually change.

The little brush that follows the gigantic curves and folds of paper - roads around a rock?

But no, it's a nest... But no, it's a living body that I caress.

 
"When we manipulate matter, memory becomes alive. " (PHG p. 121)

 
Enter with all your senses, discover - without looking for meaning.

Remember, welcome memories.

Transform them.

Go deep, come out.

To distance yourself, to look.

Name, then share.

 

 The material - the body - the movement


I choose materials that are easy and spontaneous to work with:

gouache, dry and greasy pastels, charcoal, graphite and clay.

In contact with the material, it is easier to be in the moment.

With the materials in your hands or under your feet you are already almost in.

Then, take action from the feeling:

Kepner: "The process that transforms internal feelings into expressive movements causes part of the individual to cross the border that separates the organism from the environment [...] Feelings are automatically transformed into expressions as soon as the environment is sufficiently receptive: desire pushes the individual to establish contact, anger is transformed into cries, sadness is translated into tears. ...] The feeling becomes expression in the environment and this whole constitutes the emotion."

It is necessary to engage the body, to set it in motion, to extend and project its gestures into a material.

To begin with, I often direct attention to what is happening in the body.

If there is a manifestation, I ask if it is possible to describe it:

"What's it like? Does it have a color? Which one? How is the density? Is there a movement? A gesture? A sound?.... "

Then, to make the link between expression in matter and inner experience, I often redirect attention during the process back to what is happening in the body.

Then to conclude, I must at least ask this slight question "how are you doing?" or I ask for more details.

Kepner: "Movement must be based on sensation and feeling, and must allow the individual to form appropriate contact with his environment. "

Zinker: "One of the ways a person can transform himself is by acting, by moving his body, by being expressive, by being alive. I have learned that consciousness cannot exist if it remains within the individual, that it needs to affirm itself in the activity, and then find some completion. "


Living

My perspective as a therapist is influenced by a long period of experimentation with photography, video and performance and later with painting and drawing. Today I am convinced that having had the privilege of being able to give so much space to creation saved my life! This artist side that likes to put the other into action is always present during therapy sessions.

What I like most of all is to see life re-vibrate... to witness forms that emerge, that are formed, deformed, disappear or reform.

Often I feel like an accomplice during these experiments, in the desire to support excitement and expression.

To experiment - is to enter into the quality of the moment, like a pioneer, exploring a wasteland, sometimes devastated - sometimes a garden, ready to welcome.

Above all, it is about discovering your ability to transform.

A pile of garbage into a flowered garden, or in an underwater world with its animals.

And again....

 

Renate Faulhaber

Graduated from the Fine Arts School in Germany,
in parallel training in dance and theatre.
Graduate of the IFGT.
Gestalt-therapist in Paris.


Bibliography:


PERLS Frederick, HEFFERLINE Ralph, GOODMAN Paul (1951), Gestalt Therapy. Translated by ROBINE Jean-Marie (2001), Gestalt-therapy, L'exprimerie


KEPNER James (1993), Le corps retrouvé en psychothérapie. Translated by MOREAUD Coraline, Éditions Retz


ZINKER Joseph, (1983), Searching for clarity. Pilgrimage