The cycle of creative art therapy workshops is aimed at promoting the importance of mental health, understanding ourselves, and developing a stable, supportive, and sensitive relationship towards others in the community. This project touches upon the foundations for successful mutual support as a basis for coping with everyday life and manifests in the development of an open and positive attitude towards oneself and one’s surroundings.
The workshop is led by Tara Beata Racz, a master in psychology and an academic painter with completed education and experience in conducting art therapy, along with a strong sensitivity and knowledge that can constructively contribute to raising awareness about mental health. Moreover, direct involvement in the workshops is one of the proven methods of active learning, thus this series of workshops embodies horizontal methods of education and work.
Art therapy integrates the expressive characteristics of art and the exploratory characteristics of psychotherapy. In art therapy, the emphasis is on the creative process and the artistic object as means of expression and communication, which together with the therapist and client form a dynamic spatial triad. Art therapy techniques are based on the fact that images are in closer contact with the unconscious, and that human thoughts and feelings emerging from the unconscious find their expression in images much sooner than in words. The goal of these workshops is to help individuals adapt to challenges in their environment, to encourage self-understanding, to develop empathy and compassion, and to improve the quality of life.
This series of workshops is designed as a cycle of creative visual art workshops held once a week for 120 minutes, over eight sessions. The workshops are conceptualized so that each session builds on the previous one, complementing each other, and culminating in a complete experience of a natural course. Considering the duration and character of the workshops and the spatial possibilities of GMK, the workshop is intended for 15 participants. The workshops are open to all interested individuals, with a special focus on younger adults and individuals who have someone in their immediate circle (family, friends) facing mental health challenges. The workshops are free of charge, and all materials are provided.
The first workshop will be held on Thursday, April 11, 2024, at 5 pm at GMK. The other workshop dates are:
- April 18 at 5 pm
- April 25 at 5 pm
- May 2 at 5 pm
- May 9 at 5 pm
- May 16 at 5 pm
- May 23 at 5 pm
- June 6 at 5 pm
All interested parties are encouraged to register via email: info@g-mk.hr or by message at 091/8831-721.
Additionally, feel free to send any further questions to the same email: info@g-mk.hr.
Tara Beata Racz was born in 1991 in Zagreb. In 2016, she graduated in psychology from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, where she was awarded two Dean’s awards for excellence for her achievements and dedication during her studies. In 2019, she completed her degree in painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb, in the class of Prof. Ksenija Turčić. During her painting studies, she received four Rector’s awards. She completed her education in Clinical Expressive Art Therapy under Israeli art therapist and psychologist Avi Goren Bar. Currently, she works as an art therapist at the Zagreb Rehabilitation Center and is an external associate on the courses Introduction to Art Therapy 1 and 2, as well as the Mosaic course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb.
She has led a series of expressive art therapy workshops in collaboration with the Sv Ivan Psychiatric Hospital (2014-2018), the Trešnjevka Cultural Center (2020-2023), the Miroslav Kraljević Gallery (2021-2023), and the Academy of Fine Arts in Zagreb (2019-2023). She has participated as a presenter at numerous conferences, notably the 3rd International Congress of Expressive Art Therapy “You, Me and The Arts Between” (Athens, 2018), the 4th Congress of Expressive Art Therapy “Growing together, Community as art” (Zagreb, 2018), the 1st Congress of Forest Therapy (Zagreb, 2022), the 7th International Transdisciplinary Symposium on Bioethics and the Aporias of Psyche (Zagreb, 2023), the 21st Lošinj Days of Bioethics (Mali Lošinj, 2023), the 1st Croatian Congress of Lifestyle Medicine with International Participation “The Oldest Remedy in a New Guise” (Zagreb, 2023), and the Scientific and Professional Conference with International Participation “Creative Pulse” (Zagreb, 2023).
In addition, Tara Beata Racz is actively engaged in the art scene. To date, she has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including “Psychonautics” (Zagreb,2018), “Meeting Space” (Samobor, 2020), “Transanimalia” (Varaždin, 2020), “Hybrids” (Zagreb, 2021), “Dance with Shadows” (Zagreb, 2021), “Frogs” (Šibenik, 2021), “What Condition My Condition Is In” (Zagreb, 2022), “Hurry Up, Take Your Time” (Zagreb, 2023), and “Eros and Psyche” (Zagreb, 2023). At the 5th Painting Biennale, she received the HPB award for a young artist.
Host: Tara Beata Racz
Producers: Maja Pavlinić, Tea Matanović
Production: Generator Multidisciplinarnih Koprodukcija (GMK)
Collage: Consuelo Palma
Visual: Tea Matanović
