This video demonstrates how psychoanalytic theory, expressive art and aerial yoga techniques can be integrated into innovative exercises that are designed to explore the relationship between mind and body and promote introspection, insight and personal growth. This experiential event was co-led by Professor Robert Irwin Wolf, President of The Institute for Expressive Analysis and Professor of Graduate Art Therapy at The College of New Rochelle, and Christopher Harrison, Founding Director of the AntiGravity Aerial Yoga and Fitness organization.
The Artist As Analyst/ The Analyst As Artist
On October 30, 2015, Dr. Art Robbins, Founding Director of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, and Professor Robert Irwin Wolf, offered a discussion on how being both artists and psychoanalysts effects their professional work. This talk was hosted by the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis and was moderated by Dr. Alan Roland.
For an in-depth viewing of this event please go to https://vimeo.com/152912368
12/8/15: One Night Only: Art Exhibition/Fundraiser
As this holiday season begins, I would like to take this opportunity to inform you of a very special event taking place for one night only, Tuesday December 8, from 6-9 PM at the Foley Gallery, 59 Orchard Street, NYC. This will be a fundraising event for The Virginia Gildersleeve International Fund (VGIF), an international women's fund that sponsors projects that help advance the rights and improve the lives of women around the world. This event will be an invitational art exhibition, curated and sponsored by my artist representatives, Meuller+Jacobs, Art Advisors, with 100% of the proceeds going to VGIF. I am pleased to have one of my prints, "NIGHT MARKET", taken in 2010 in Luang Prabang, Laos, of a young woman selling her handmade crafts. This image is 11" x 14", # 2/20, printed with archival pigmented ink on canvas and conveys the unique atmosphere of this quaint village market. I strongly urge you to visit the website of this organization at: www.vgif.org for more information about their important work and this next link, where can also find more information about the exhibition: http://vgif.org/vgif-art-show/
Thank you,
Professor Robert Irwin Wolf
President, The Institute for Expressive Analysis
Faculty, Graduate Art Therapy Program, The College of New Rochelle
Bob Wolf and Art Robbins: The Artist/Psychoanalyst @ NPAP on Friday, October 30, 2015
THE PROGRAM COMMITTEE
OF THE NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS
PRESENTS
THE ARTIST IN THE THERAPIST/THE THERAPIST IN THE ARTIST:
A CREATIVE DIALOGUE
PRESNTERS: Dr. Arthur Robbins and Professor Robert Irwin Wolf
MODERATOR: Alan Roland, Ph.D.
The presentation will explore the importance of the psychoaesthetic dimensions of working within the third analytic space between analyst and patient. We will then focus on how the utilization of photography and sculpture can stimulate the analyst’s own growth, and how this may then be integrated into clinical applications and practice.
BIO
Arthur Robbins, Ed.D., is the author of numerous articles and books in the area of creativity and therapeutic artistry. He is Founding Director of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, former Director of the Graduate Art Therapy Program, Pratt Institute, and Honorary Life Member, The American Art Therapy Association. He is a Senior Member and former member of the Board of Directors of the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is also a fine art sculptor.
BIO
Professor Robert Irwin Wolf is currently President of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, on the Graduate Faculty of The College of New Rochelle and the Art Therapy Program at Pratt Institute, and a Senior Member, National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the uses of creativity and expressive art modalities in clinical practice. He is an exhibiting fine art photographer and sculptor.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 7:30 P.M.
NATIONAL PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS
40 WEST 13 STREET, BUZZER # 216 (BETWEEN 5TH AND 6TH AVENUES)
Refreshments Following the Meeting
Pratt Alumni Art Exhibition
On Saturday, September 19, 2015, Pratt Institute presented an Alumni Art Exhibition featuring the work of more than 80 prominent graduates.
This juried exhibition included work of 80 alumni spanning over six decades.
I was excited to have been selected to show my work in the Fine Arts exhibition as a graduate and representative of Pratt's school of Art and Design. My contribution to the show was piece of contemporary stone sculpture:
DANCER”, 1999, 27”H x 9”W x 5”D, White Carrera Marble
I was honored to have Pratt President Thomas Schutte present at the Artist's Reception, seen here personally welcoming me back on the campus.
Solo Pop-Up Exhibition: Sculpture In Stone
This Solo Exhibition of my work in stone took place in Chelsea at a unique Pop-Up Gallery space at 290 Eighth Avenue on Wednesday, May 20, 2015 from 6-9 PM. The space at one time, had been a nightclub, bar and restaurant with a "Roman" theme and was in between ownership at the time of the event. My art representatives were able to secure the space of this one night only event. The unique space: a room with mirrored and marble walls and marble floors became a wonderful backdrop for my stone sculpture. Over 75 people, from the fine art, art therapy and psychoanalytic communities attended during the three hour time frame. Special thanks to my Art Representatives: Mueller+Jacobs, www.muellerjacobs.com for their effort in making this special event possible
Unique Expressive Art Supervision for Clinical Professionals
There are still openings in an ongoing clinical supervision group that utilized artwork of participants as a bridge to exploring clinical issues such as countertransference and projective identification. This technique was first described in my article, "Image Inductions in the Countertransference", Art therapy, 1985, (www.robertirwinwolf.com/ click on Professional Vitae and scroll down to 'Publications'. and further elaborated upon in a series of other published articles , most recently "No One Can Hear Me Scream", Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 7(2): 279-296, Fall 2010, and with additional illustrations and Foreword, at www.blurb.com.
http://www.blurb.com/b/1680062-no-one-can-hear-me-scream
This unique group meets weekly in my midtown Manhattan office on Wednesdays from 7-8:30 PM, and is open to all mental health professionals who wish to deepen their understanding of how to use expressive modalities within their clinical work.
For more information please contact me at rwolfnyc@aol.com
Body/Mind Integration: An AntiGravity Yoga/Expressive Analysis Seminar
Saturday, March 28, 2015, 1:30 – 5:00 PM
AntiGravity Lab * 265 West 37th Street,
Suite 1100, New York, NY
Fee: $100
The Institute for Expressive Analysis is pleased to announce the second in a series of unique, experiential seminars that are designed to integrate the theory and processes of expressive analysis with contemporary technology and practices. This seminar will demonstrate the integration of AntiGravity® Yoga and expressive analytic processes as a way to further promote and understand the link between mind and body.
This Seminar is designed specifically to facilitate the transformation between physical, visual, and emotional experience and will be conducted in two parts. First, participants will be led through a series of AntiGravity® Yoga exercises, led by Christopher Harrison, the Creator of AntiGravity Entertainment and Fitness. Mr. Harrison, the father of aerial yoga, has taken his techniques all around the world to great acclaim. He has prepared an offering expressly for associates from the Institute for Expressive Analysis. You will experience a physical class with hyper mental focus, proprioceptive (agility) training, deep stretching, zero-compression inversions, levity conditioning, and floating cocoon meditations in the Harrison AntiGravity Hammock.
The ancient practice of yoga has always facilitated self-development via connecting body, mind, and spirit. Professor Robert Wolf, President of IEA, will then lead a guided imagery exercise designed to create internal visualizations of this experience, followed by an experiential exercise utilizing creative art materials to externalize and process these visualizations.
"When you open up space in the body, you open up space in the mind, as they are interconnected,” says Christopher Harrison. AntiGravity Techniques are all about re-establishing the body/mind connection and obtaining balance in one’s life. Expressive analytic techniques are designed to create a bridge from visceral/physical experience to cognitive/emotional awareness leading to insight and integration as unconscious material is externalized and understood through the process of creative expression.
Professor Robert Wolf is a licensed psychoanalyst and creative art therapist with over 35 years of experience in private clinical practice, supervision, and teaching in graduate art therapy programs including The College of New Rochelle, Pratt Institute, and several psychoanalytic training institutes. He has published widely in the field of creative expressive therapy and, as a professional artist, his work has been exhibited and published internationally.
Since studio space is limited, this exciting event will be limited to the first 11 participants to sign up. Advanced registration is necessary. The fee for this unique integrative experience is $100. Contact Professor Wolf at rwolfnyc@aol.com to register. Pre-registration is required.
WWW.IEANYC.ORG
UNIQUE PHOTOGRAPHY SEMINAR
The Institute for Expressive Analysis Presents
Unique Clinical Supervision Opportunity
I am pleased to offer the opportunity for new participants to join my ongoing clinical supervision group that meets on Wednesdays, from 7 - 8:30 PM in my conveniently located midtown Manhattan office. This group consists of a variety of clinicians, including creative art therapists, psychoanalysts and other clinical professionals interested in integrating creative processing into their work.
In this unique group, participants bring in one piece of artwork each week that they have created at home, to begin a creative exploration of supervisory issues, often focusing on countertransference and resistance. A variety of expressive techniques modalities are explored and demonstrated, including the therapeutic uses of photography, (Phototherapy) and the creative processing of dreams. I welcome this opportunity to offer my clinical skill and experience, having spent the past many years in private practice, teaching graduate art therapy students in a variety of settings and pursuing my own artwork as a photographer and sculptor, as I explored and defined the further integration of creative art therapy, fine art and psychoanalysis.
Please pass this information along to interested colleagues.
For further information please contact me directly at:
rwolfnyc@aol.com
Object Relations and Education
In a recent article in the New York Times, The author describes the importance of contact between teachers and students as being the central factor contributing to the success of any learning experience.
We often forget the importance of interpersonal contact within the educational process. Newborn infants require extensive human contact or regress into anaclytic ( an often deadly 'failure to thrive syndrome) depression. According to research and theories developed by pioneers in the field of child development, like Margaret Mahler and D.W. Winnicott, mother/child interaction continues to be an essential factor in healthy emotional development, throughout the progressive stages of object relationships and ego development.
Why then is it so surprising that many of the newer educational designs, which are inspired by a business model that focuses only on content delivery, rather than a psychological model that stresses the importance of student/teacher interaction, are doomed to failure?
There are also interesting parallels in psychotherapeutic models for treatment of emotional dysfunction. We are learning that the treatment modalities that focus exclusively on medication or behavioral techniques are less effective, long term, than models that include an element of personal therapeutic contact. Interactive psychotherapies that embrace an understanding of ‘therapeutic alliance’ and ‘positive transference’ have been proven to be more effective in achieving long term, positive results. Clients are more likely to grow within this interactive format than those who simply take medication (often for the rest of their lives without an adequate understanding of long term consequences) or learn a few ‘techniques’ (through CBT or DBT) and are then considered ‘cured’ by their insurance companies!
Back Online: An Adventure in the Destructive World of Hacking
After several months of hectic work to reestablish my Website and Blog, I have finally arrived at a new format, one which hopefully will not get hacked and destroyed like my first Website and Blog that had on it over three years of carefully written postings and photographs. My unpleasant experience was with Hostingcheck.com, a hosting company originally called "Nomonthlyfees.com" (I should have trusted my instinct when it became clear that they charged an annual fee, not monthly, and therefore embraced deception as their corporate branding mantra)! I strongly recommend avoiding this hosting company.
Well, they were hacked by who knows who and all of their data, since it was poorly backed up, was destroyed. At some other time I will discuss the world of destruction looming out in cyber space by those individuals who clearly spend their lives dreaming up scams and ways to destroy other peoples lives; sometimes for their personal gain, and other times for simply the sadistic gratification they experience from feeling powerful through the destruction of others. But today it's suffice to say that I am pleased to be back online, with a new Website and Blog that I now hope to be able to use in an unobstructed manner to post my thoughts as seen "through the eyes of a psychoanalyst" (and of course artist). As the current President of the Institute for Expressive Analysis, and being a fully licensed creative art therapist and psychoanalyst with over 35 years of teaching and private practice experience, as well as being an internationally known fine art photographer and sculptor, I feel well qualified to offer this unique view.
My goal is to offer to those interested in my unique perspective, a way to see, process and understand the psychological and psychoanalytic, i.e. the unconscious component of many current events and cultural trends. In an ever changing world it is somehow reassuring to have a fundamental structure upon which you may understand cultural trends and world politics and events from a deeper, more consistent and solid vantage point.
Professor Robert Irwin Wolf, New York City, August, 2014