Julia Volonts Art Therapy

20/04/2024

Thank you for the invite to discuss some international art therapy work last night!

Thank you to all of the webinar attendees for your curiosity and interest. 💐

It was inspiring to revisit projects created with , , , and over the last few years, and introduce the upcoming international residency collaboration with .

💐💐💐

13/03/2024

Repost from 🔊

“‼️ There’s a shortage of Medicaid psychotherapy providers in NY - adding 2,000+ Licensed Creative Arts Therapists to the Medicaid Provider List will help!

This is a simple solution to improve access to mental healthcare - by adding 2,000+ already fully licensed psychotherapists, at NO additional cost.

And it can be accomplished via a NYS Budget provision, so the time to advocate is NOW!

🚨ACTION STEP

Send this post directly to your state legislators, (https://www.instagram.com/harrybbronson/), (https://www.instagram.com/senatorbrouk/) &

(https://www.instagram.com/friends_of_aileen_gunther/)


Also - tag them all in the comments of this post!! 🙌🏼”

10/03/2024

👋🏻

08/03/2024

👉🏻

08/03/2024

Me and Poppy.

05/03/2024

🫳🏻
🫴🏻

03/03/2024

🫳🏻🤞🏻

01/03/2024

🫸🏻

19/02/2024

💐💐💐

Art Therapy Lab is thrilled to announce our first art therapy residency! Make art with us IRL this summer in Kuldīga, Latvia.

We have partnered with a diverse group of creative practitioners to offer a weekend residency that combines art and eco-therapy to explore concepts of “nature” and how contemporary art positively impacts our mental and emotional well-being.

Our team includes:
volonts, Art Therapist & Founder of Art Therapy Lab (USA/LV)

, Independent Curator & Founder of The Studio (LV)

, Performance Artist (LV)

, Arts in Health Researcher (GER)

The residency is hosted at The Studio — a new art space in Kuldīga city, located in the Kaļķu Street quarter.

Kuldīga is a small town with a rich cultural background. Recently it became part of the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The Studio offers space and time for practitioners and theoreticians from different cultural fields (with a focus on visual arts), supporting creativity, research and education. An essential focus of this art space is the dialogue between the invited artists and local community, with a strong focus on fostering collaboration not only in Courland region, but also internationally.

The Studio will be an environment for participants to engage in self-reflection, creative development, and build connections.

18/02/2024

More thread on paper on paper ⚪️⚫️

14/02/2024

Love is not a need that goes away. We cannot learn to love ourselves by ourselves. But what is self-love?

Note from on self-love: “Where did we get the idea that we have to learn how to love all on our own? Have you ever ended a relationship because you needed to “work on yourself?” Have you ever said “I need to learn how to love myself before I can love anyone else—and before I can learn how to be loved?

… While the idea of selfhood is not new, different cultures map the self on a continuum: unique or varied, separate or together, independent or conformist. And our ideas about the self are evolving. In the west, we tend to see the self as a separate entity with clear boundaries that delineate an independent identity. This vision of the self is comprised of internal ruminations about confidence, doubt, happiness, failure, ability, disability, and privilege or lack thereof. But the self is also entangled in a cosmic connection with the people around us and with social, political, and economic structures. We don’t just learn to love ourselves by ourselves. It’s a classic chicken or the egg scenario: in order to love another, we must love ourselves. In order to love ourselves, we must allow ourselves to be loved by others. And we must recognize that negative self-esteem is riddled with societal messages about who is lovable, laudable, or loathsome.

… Self-love is the ability to not fall into a puddle of contempt even when we mess up. It’s trying new things knowing that we could fail, without thinking of ourselves, therefore, as failures. Can we take that understanding and self-compassion into our connections with others?‍

… Self-love is less about the ability to withstand loneliness or establish independence and more about awareness and acceptance of our incompleteness. It’s about letting others love us even when we feel unlovable because their version of us is often kinder than our own.“

Sending a Happy (or however you are feeling) Valentine’s Day to all.

10/02/2024

Recent lectures at and have me reflecting on the response art I created between 2019-20 shortly after my arrival in Latvia as a dual citizen and professional. Simply defined, response art is artwork created by the art therapist in order to visually process the therapeutic relationship, build, empathy, cultivate clinical insights and support professional development.

“Parts Series” is a self-inquiry into my identity as a Latvian-American, the ethical considerations as a U.S clinician working abroad, and position of art therapy as a field within a global context.

Thank you to the students for your curiosity about international art therapy work and hearing about my professional journey. You have me excited for the next gen of art therapists. 💐

25/01/2024

Today I guest lectured at my alma mater, in the department on my professional journey as an art therapist since graduating. We discussed applying for , my time in Latvia, international art therapy projects, the creation of , and more.

Inspired to meet the next gen of art therapists. Let’s keep exploring future possibilities for our field, raising awareness on the healing benefits of art, and advocate for legislative rights in the U.S and abroad! 💐

09/01/2024

Make art with your emotions…

There are four new virtual art therapy groups open in collab with , facilitated by me.

Each focuses on a different theme. We can take some NYS insurances. Start 2024 creatively prioritizing your mental health and well-being. 💐

13/12/2023

Movement

12/12/2023

Older, still the same ✂️

11/12/2023

More thread on paper on paper 🪑🪡

19/11/2023

CUT IT OUT workshop response art from today — making & breaking patterns.

Thank you to all of the participants for being open and making art with your emotions. ✂️

09/11/2023

Back to thread on thread on paper 🪡

09/11/2023

More thread on thread on paper. 🪡

18/10/2023

🌵 collage

10/10/2023

Our second collaboration with and started last week.

Since ATL have been slow to share new updates, we thought tell you a little more about this project and how it all started.

Art Therapy Lab founder, .volonts, is a graduate of the program and currently consults with SVA to develop special projects for students to have art therapy experiences outside of their traditional fieldwork placement.

ATL approached KCS last Spring with an idea to create a “virtual wellness retreat” in order to support their community. It is now our second time doing one and it has become an international group of individuals curious where art meets mental health.

Our group facilitators are art therapy graduate students from the School of Visual Arts that work under the supervision of Art Therapy Lab founder, Julia Volonts to provide this art therapy programming.

This has been a learning process and working with , certified art therapy from Ukraine and founder of KCS as well as and .festival has been an inspiring and integral part of this.

The title of this retreat, TIME MOVES, is about the creation of a safe self-care space to explore themes of uncertainty, our future and past narratives, and how art can support us when words are not enough.

Thank you to all that are or have been on our groups. Your openness to create, connect, and make art with your emotions is a gift to us. 🙏🏻

10/10/2023

💐

09/09/2023

09/09/2023

mirror selfie 🇬🇷🫶🏻

02/09/2023

Hello, Julia here. 👋🏻

It has been a while, so thought to do a new intro and share some art therapy life updates.

I am a Licensed & Board-Certified Art Therapist, Fulbright Alum, and visual thinker based in NYC, available worldwide.

Most of my practice is virtual, which has provided me the opportunity to make art with people from all over the world. I balance my work life between providing art psychotherapy via and creating community based art therapy programming via , a project I founded in Fall 2022.

From 2019 - 2022, I lived and worked in Riga, Latvia to conduct art therapy research, where I also began to organize community projects and collaborations, lecture, and understand my professional identity as a U.S clinician working within an international context.

I later joined .arttherapy and became invested in the place of art therapy as a recognized mental health profession in Europe. I am so inspired by the art therapy community from across the E.U and the work they are doing within their respective countries.

This summer I have been based in Europe (Latvia and Berlin mostly) to take some space to work on myself and reflect on my next steps as an art therapist.

Main highlights from June - August include:
- Attending the .arttherapy biannual conference in Latvia as a participant, workshop presenter, and member of the conference committee.

- Having my first book review published in the journal.

- Hosting an in-person pop-up workshop in Berlin in collaboration with

- Meeting over 25+ art therapists and collaborators I have only known virtually during the pandemic in real life for the first time.

- Started writing a book chapter about some of my art therapy things, which is still in-progress.

As Fall approaches, will launch new programming and I will re-open Julia Volonts Art Therapy for those interested in art psychotherapy.

Websites to be updated shortly. Thank you for reading and thank you to all that have been a part of my art therapy journey thus far. 💐💐💐

29/08/2023

Fall programming & new offerings via Julia Volonts Art Therapy coming soon. 💐

12/08/2023

✂️✂️✂️

03/08/2023

mini zine look book 📚