Advanced Spring Seminar: Psychic Revelations Stimulated Through the Arts

“The practice of art is a psychological activity and
can be approached from a psychological angle”
C.G. Jung, CW 15, par 97

The arts encompass a wide range of expressions such as music, literature, dance and the visual arts. While the psychology of art investigates creativity, artistic appreciation and the impact of art on our minds, emotions, dreams and psyche. Jung believed the practice of art and the arts produced were a psychological activity which evolved from psychic motives. In The Spirit of Man, Art and Literature, CW 15, Jung addressed some of the connections between the arts and psyche. However, he did not delineate specifically how art related to his Map of the Psyche, which included a conscious state, collective unconscious, personal unconscious, shadow, anima/us, ego, SELF and Archetypes.

This course will be didactic and experiential and will explore how personal, clinical and classical art examples can be examined through the lens of Jung’s Map of the Psyche. The participants will delve deeply into the works of art to understand the unique connection between art and the psychic revelations that were stimulated by the work of art. Please bring drawing paper, oil pastels, crayons of markers, pencil and pie plate.

Learning Objectives:

The course is designed so that participants will be able to:

1. Discuss the psychological process of art.
2. Describe Jung’s Map of the Psyche in Relation to the Arts
3. Engage in the artistic process for the purpose of identifying the elements in Jung’s Map of the Psyche.
4. Observe classical examples of the arts and to discuss what is being stimulated in the psyche.
5. Summarize Jung’s statement that art is constantly educating the spirit of the age.
6. List definitions related to Jung’s Map of the Psyche.
7. Apply Jung’s Theory to clinical examples.