Push to Fire: Alternative Music Webzine

Art is the Cure
Recently our Photography Editor Suzy Witts was browsing MySpace and came across a link on a band's profile to something called 'Art is the Cure'. After reading more she thought that AITC was something great and decided that more people should hear about it. So here's her interview with Rich from Art is the Cure. Hopefully it will give you some insight into what AITC is all about and how influential and powerful art can be in terms of support when times are tough.

Rich: Art Is The Cure is art therapy for the masses, it is the idea that creative releases can be a positive way of dealing with problems in life. A lot of people go through things like depression, addiction, eating problems, autism, bereavement, anger, stress and other mental health problems and all of these can lead to negative releases like drinking, drugs, self harm and suicide. What I want to achieve through AITC is educating people so that they can deal with these issues by creating art and releasing their problems through art. Creating a painting or writing a poem or song or drawing a picture can all be amazing releases and offer people a realistic cure for whatever situation they're in. Art is empowering and gives people the strength and hope to deal with things in their own way and can save lives.
What do you think about support groups and therapy groups who use art as a focus, like music therapy and art therapy? Would you say they are good examples of the message you aim to convey or do you see those groups as doing something different?
I think art therapists all have a different way of helping people and that's amazing. Some people need the help and encouragement of a qualified art therapist to bring the creativity out of them. I'm not a qualified therapist and I dont do sessions or anything, I'm simply an artist with a story that is trying to inspire people to use art too and not go through the same things I did. I think art can be used in a theraputic way without the need for counsellors or going to sessions, I want people to find strength in themselves and use art when they need it.

Rich

So, what's your 'art'?
I've always been into art, I was the art geek in school who just went to the art room during lunch to draw and paint stuff. I didn't take it seriously and start to explore what I could really do until I was 18 and had just left sixth form and used art to help me deal with problems at home. I would sit in my room and draw for hours and then learnt how to paint them and that evolved into working with acrylics and doing Dali style paintings. I got more into pop art and that led me to stencil work and street art about a year ago. I like being methodical with art; I find sitting down to cut a stencil really relaxing so I will spend 10, 20, 30 hours creating new stencils to spray because I like the detail but I still work in a fine art style with brush.

Creating some art

Art became my release of negative emotion and I got it out through painting and writing and playing music. I can't imagine my life without some kind of creative release so if I didn't have painting as my art I would have focused on music, or gone skating more.
Do you think that the emotions and situations you had were key to you creating the art you have produced?
I think that some of the best art has been created by tortured souls. I think it's the idea that you can turn a negative situation into a positive release by creating art, and sometimes the more hurt you are, the more negative emotion you have to release and create a better piece.
If you hadn't had such situations, do you think you would have been as creative?
I had a lot to deal with so I always had a situation or an emotion to draw upon when working on a new piece so I think it's definitely helped my creativity and helped me create better art.
Does art always have to be used as a support or release?
No way, art can be used whatever mood you're in. Sometimes when I'm at my most happy I'll find inspiration to do a piece. The only difference is that my art differs depending on what mood I'm in and whether I'm doodling for pleasure or using it as a release to cope with something bad.

What made you decide to start AITC as an actual 'movement'?
I put my art up on MySpace like a lot of people do a couple of years ago and I was approached by a girl in America. She asked me what the pieces meant and I told her what they were about and how painting them got all the negativity out of my system and I had a painting to look at afterwards and feel proud of. She got in contact with me again telling me that she had been suicidal for a couple of months and hearing about how art helped me, she decided to go out and get a load of art supplies and just painted and drew for constantly for a couple of days and she had never felt better. She found her release for the negative emotions and felt free. She went on to tell me that I saved her life. Since then I had thought about using art to help people but didnt know how to go about it. Someone said I should become an art therapist and a light went off in my head. If I could help 1 person without realising then then imagine what I could do if I set up a group to help a lot of people, and that's how AITC was born.

Rich and his artwork

How have people responded to AITC? Do you get a lot of people telling you about their own experiences?
The response to AITC has been incredible. It's given people a place to realise they're not alone in their struggles and they can share their stories and find inspiration to deal with them using art. I've heard a lot of people's stories and some of them are pretty heartbreaking but they all have such an inspirational ending of going from rock bottom to being happy again by using art, creativity and inspiration to find hope and a cure.
Have you had many people spreading the word in schools and via street teaming etc.?
People have really helped to spread the word about AITC. I think they've connected with it and feel like they can make a difference in peoples lives too, so they promote AITC to friends and family and in schools to get that message across. A lot of people have set up their own support groups and street teams on MySpace so they can promote it to friends and get the word out locally. Gigs have been organised and had bands playing and promoting this project. People have given talks in schools and set up after school clubs. It's amazing how supportive people have been and how far they've gone to spread the word.
Looking at artwork on your MySpace from supporters of AITC, I could see a range of different styles and mediums being implemented - I suppose this just shows how art is all about interpreting things as an individual and doing art for personal reasons and benefits.

Would you say that AITC has strengthened your own use of art as a release/support?
Art has such a broad spectrum of mediums and outlets so everyone has a different creative release, a different way of using art and a different style for doing it. You might get a bunch of people saying photography is their cure but each of them work differently, take photos of different things, use different effects and have different ideas on how to do it. It just shows how versatile art can be as a cure and how anyone can apply it to their life.
Does hearing about how other people have had similar experiences encourage your art to continue to thrive?
Hearing about the strength and courage some people have shown to make art work for them and what they'd been through really inspires me to work hard to make AITC grow and create better art in my own time. Art is my life and AITC has opened my eyes to that and I've embraced it.

AITC flyer

How does the money from the merch you sell get put back into Art is the Cure?
The growth of AITC is dependent on sales of merch to keep things alive and moving forwards. There are a lot of costs that come with setting up a business and without the money raised from t-shirts, AITC wouldnt be able to keep going. With the economy being a problem we havent been able to get the merch into shops so I'm having to use my own savings to keep it alive. I've not taken a penny from AITC and have kept it going purely on the passion I have for this movement and the belief that it will make a big difference in the world.
What are your ambitions for AITC? What would you like AITC to achieve this year?
I want to get the word out about art therapy as much as possible so I'm looking to go on tours, give talks in schools and at gigs, put on art based events like galleries or live painting demos and workshops. I have a clothing deal with Goodie Two Sleeves in LA so hopefully we will be able to launch some shirts into shops this year. Working on new videos and working with new artists too. I just want to get it out to as many people as I can so I'm working on lots of ideas for achieving that.

Push to Fire thinks that Art is the Cure is definitely a worthwhile project and wishes Rich and all those involved with AITC lots of success for the future. If you want to find out more about AITC, buy some merch, help spread the word or even tell Rich your own story, you can get in touch via the MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/artisthecure.
Thanks very much to Rich for taking the time to speak to us and also providing us with the images alongside the interview. Photos second and third down taken by Gobuttit Photography.

Art is the Cure Recently our Photography Editor Suzy Witts was browsing MySpace and came across a link on a band's profile to something called 'Art is the Cure'. After reading more she thought that AITC was something great and decided that more people should hear about it. So here's her interview with Rich from Art is the Cure. Hopefully it will give you some insight into what AITC is all about and how influential and powerful art can be in terms of support when times are tough.
Rich: Art Is The Cure is art therapy for the masses, it is the idea that creative releases can be a positive way of dealing with problems in life. A lot of people go through things like depression, addiction, eating problems, autism, bereavement, anger, stress and other mental health problems and all of these can lead to negative releases like drinking, drugs, self harm and suicide. What I want to achieve through AITC is educating people so that they can deal with these issues by creating art and releasing their problems through art. Creating a painting or writing a poem or song or drawing a picture can all be amazing releases and offer people a realistic cure for whatever situation they're in. Art is empowering and gives people the strength and hope to deal with things in their own way and can save lives. What do you think about support groups and therapy groups who use art as a focus, like music therapy and art therapy? Would you say they are good examples of the message you aim to convey or do you see those groups as doing something different? I think art therapists all have a different way of helping people and that's amazing. Some people need the help and encouragement of a qualified art therapist to bring the creativity out of them. I'm not a qualified therapist and I dont do sessions or anything, I'm simply an artist with a story that is trying to inspire people to use art too and not go through the same things I did. I think art can be used in a theraputic way without the need for counsellors or going to sessions, I want people to find strength in themselves and use art when they need it.
So, what's your 'art'? I've always been into art, I was the art geek in school who just went to the art room during lunch to draw and paint stuff. I didn't take it seriously and start to explore what I could really do until I was 18 and had just left sixth form and used art to help me deal with problems at home. I would sit in my room and draw for hours and then learnt how to paint them and that evolved into working with acrylics and doing Dali style paintings. I got more into pop art and that led me to stencil work and street art about a year ago. I like being methodical with art; I find sitting down to cut a stencil really relaxing so I will spend 10, 20, 30 hours creating new stencils to spray because I like the detail but I still work in a fine art style with brush.
Art became my release of negative emotion and I got it out through painting and writing and playing music. I can't imagine my life without some kind of creative release so if I didn't have painting as my art I would have focused on music, or gone skating more. Do you think that the emotions and situations you had were key to you creating the art you have produced? I think that some of the best art has been created by tortured souls. I think it's the idea that you can turn a negative situation into a positive release by creating art, and sometimes the more hurt you are, the more negative emotion you have to release and create a better piece. If you hadn't had such situations, do you think you would have been as creative? I had a lot to deal with so I always had a situation or an emotion to draw upon when working on a new piece so I think it's definitely helped my creativity and helped me create better art. Does art always have to be used as a support or release? No way, art can be used whatever mood you're in. Sometimes when I'm at my most happy I'll find inspiration to do a piece. The only difference is that my art differs depending on what mood I'm in and whether I'm doodling for pleasure or using it as a release to cope with something bad.
What made you decide to start AITC as an actual 'movement'? I put my art up on MySpace like a lot of people do a couple of years ago and I was approached by a girl in America. She asked me what the pieces meant and I told her what they were about and how painting them got all the negativity out of my system and I had a painting to look at afterwards and feel proud of. She got in contact with me again telling me that she had been suicidal for a couple of months and hearing about how art helped me, she decided to go out and get a load of art supplies and just painted and drew for constantly for a couple of days and she had never felt better. She found her release for the negative emotions and felt free. She went on to tell me that I saved her life. Since then I had thought about using art to help people but didnt know how to go about it. Someone said I should become an art therapist and a light went off in my head. If I could help 1 person without realising then then imagine what I could do if I set up a group to help a lot of people, and that's how AITC was born.
How have people responded to AITC? Do you get a lot of people telling you about their own experiences? The response to AITC has been incredible. It's given people a place to realise they're not alone in their struggles and they can share their stories and find inspiration to deal with them using art. I've heard a lot of people's stories and some of them are pretty heartbreaking but they all have such an inspirational ending of going from rock bottom to being happy again by using art, creativity and inspiration to find hope and a cure. Have you had many people spreading the word in schools and via street teaming etc.? People have really helped to spread the word about AITC. I think they've connected with it and feel like they can make a difference in peoples lives too, so they promote AITC to friends and family and in schools to get that message across. A lot of people have set up their own support groups and street teams on MySpace so they can promote it to friends and get the word out locally. Gigs have been organised and had bands playing and promoting this project. People have given talks in schools and set up after school clubs. It's amazing how supportive people have been and how far they've gone to spread the word. Looking at artwork on your MySpace from supporters of AITC, I could see a range of different styles and mediums being implemented - I suppose this just shows how art is all about interpreting things as an individual and doing art for personal reasons and benefits.
Would you say that AITC has strengthened your own use of art as a release/support? Art has such a broad spectrum of mediums and outlets so everyone has a different creative release, a different way of using art and a different style for doing it. You might get a bunch of people saying photography is their cure but each of them work differently, take photos of different things, use different effects and have different ideas on how to do it. It just shows how versatile art can be as a cure and how anyone can apply it to their life. Does hearing about how other people have had similar experiences encourage your art to continue to thrive? Hearing about the strength and courage some people have shown to make art work for them and what they'd been through really inspires me to work hard to make AITC grow and create better art in my own time. Art is my life and AITC has opened my eyes to that and I've embraced it. How does the money from the merch you sell get put back into Art is the Cure? The growth of AITC is dependent on sales of merch to keep things alive and moving forwards. There are a lot of costs that come with setting up a business and without the money raised from t-shirts, AITC wouldnt be able to keep going. With the economy being a problem we havent been able to get the merch into shops so I'm having to use my own savings to keep it alive. I've not taken a penny from AITC and have kept it going purely on the passion I have for this movement and the belief that it will make a big difference in the world. What are your ambitions for AITC? What would you like AITC to achieve this year? I want to get the word out about art therapy as much as possible so I'm looking to go on tours, give talks in schools and at gigs, put on art based events like galleries or live painting demos and workshops. I have a clothing deal with Goodie Two Sleeves in LA so hopefully we will be able to launch some shirts into shops this year. Working on new videos and working with new artists too. I just want to get it out to as many people as I can so I'm working on lots of ideas for achieving that.
Push to Fire thinks that Art is the Cure is definitely a worthwhile project and wishes Rich and all those involved with AITC lots of success for the future. If you want to find out more about AITC, buy some merch, help spread the word or even tell Rich your own story, you can get in touch via the MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/artisthecure. Thanks very much to Rich for taking the time to speak to us and also providing us with the images alongside the interview. Photos second and third down taken by Gobuttit Photography.