In this workshop, exhibiting artist Eric Dean Spruth, MA, ATR will engage the public in making candles to take home.

Maximum 15 participants

Candle-making: the healing nature of ritual fire and symbol. For nine and a half years, Spruth served the homicide support program as an art therapist, helping families within the scope of art therapy to find healing and wellness in their lives, individually and as a family. He will draw on those experiences to facilitate a public workshop at the IMSS.

“I had an adult and Adolescent and a children’s program I ran monthly co-facilitating with the State’s Attorney’s victim Witness Programs. Our Adolescent group focused more on developing poetry and raps actually producing our own CD single Flying Wingless at a professional recording studio. Our children’s program worked in an open studio format, allowing the kids to find a place with the art media; the Adult program a full gambit of art therapy directives, including candle making, finding a place to return to mediation, again and again, giving respect and remembrance to their lost loved one as a result of murder.”

All workshop supplies are provided

Participants are asked to bring remembrance paraphernalia including photos or copies of:

– people/ person

– special places

– things

– one or so words printed out

***This program is provided in connection with the current exhibition, “Art Therapy & Tarot: The Importance of Symbol; Then, Now, and Forevermore,” by By Eric Dean Spruth, MA, ATR, on view through February 12, 2023. The programming series includes artist talks, guest speakers in the field, and engagement events all surrounding the importance of Art Therapy and topics of healing, empowerment, remembrance, symbolism, and rebirth. For schedule information, visit https://imss.org/programs/.Eric Dean Spruth, MA, ATR (Ph.D. Candidate, Walden University) is a highly accomplished art therapist, practicing in fields across disciplines, including his therapeutic works and services within tattooing, music, writing, body casting; mastering many art media in the name of service as an art therapist, in service to his special needs populations across the country and around the world. In “Art Therapy & Tarot: The Importance of Symbol; Then, Now, and Forevermore,” Spruth gives us a look into his most recent works encompassing a collage set of 78 tarot cards and the craft, history, and cultural importance of the media. The borderless symbolism surrounding tarot is not of one person but all people. Through the tarot deck, Spruth connects the importance of creating art in unique ways as therapy for not only his patients but also himself.For more information about the exhibit, visit https://imss.org/art-therapy-and-tarot/.