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History
The process proved successful with a variety of people in many settings. Besides running programs in the studio, OSP facilitators and trainees have led programs at community mental health centers, schools, residential homes, shelters, hospitals, and many social service agencies. The process has been presented at universities and conferences around the country. In 1999, the original Chicago studio was closed and, in June 2000, a new studio was opened in Evanston, Illinois, an economically and racially diverse community just north of Chicago. OSP Co-Founder Dayna Block now serves as Executive Director. With a goal of greater outreach to underserved populations, OSP began collaborating with a variety of social service agencies in order to bring to their constituents the benefits of these encounters with the creative process.
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The Open Studio Project began in 1991 with an intention: to make art and to be of service. Three Chicago area art therapists -- Dayna Block, Deborah Gadiel, and Pat Allen -- began this enterprise. After many years of experience in clinical settings, these therapists realized that to be truly effective in teaching clients to use art-making for personal transformation, they themselves would need to engage in and model their own creative process alongside their clients. Over the next 9 years, a unique art and writing process was developed and refined in an art studio in Chicago.
