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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.
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 (OSP) is a non-profit arts and social service organization. We provide stimulating and powerful programming combining visual arts and writing, with a special emphasis on using the creative arts to inspire personal growth, interpersonal understanding, and social change. We serve both the general public and the diverse community of underserved local residents. Our mission is to utilize and bring the creative process to individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and to empower people to turn to art for personal growth.
Through workshops, classes, exhibitions, and especially community partnerships, we teach participants how to use art making effectively as a safe, powerful, and reliable medium for personal exploration and growth. More specifically, our goal is for participants to learn how to turn to their own creativity in order to increase self-awareness, empathy, and clarity in transitional times or challenge in areas of their lives. Specific issues for some of our participants have included life-goal clarification, career changes, illness, bereavement, and managing feelings of hopelessness and anger during adolescence. |
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