While searching for studio equipment, I came across a drawing book by Polish artist and stage designer Piotr Sonnewend (*1953 ). His drawings are very experimental and painterly in approach, very dark and conveying an atmosphere of mystery and pain. The artist’s topics are sinister, but this drawing techniques are impressive. He is also a teaching art professor in Poland, Germany and the Netherlands and in his publications, explains techniques and approaches.
I am thinking about developing into a career in art therapy, and found it very interesting that Sonnenwend is currently a lecturer at a school for art therapy, the ‘Institut für Ausbildung in bildender Kunst und Kunsttherapie’ (IBKK) in Bochum, Germany. When I look at Sonnenwend’s works, I can connect to them emotionally. I don’t know whether this is an ‘objective’ quality of a piece of art, but I see art therapy as a key to learning how to open up for emotional expression through art and I would hope that the resulting artworks represent the artist’s ‘personal emotional language’. Achieving this in my own artwork would be a development goal in art for me, and I would see it also as worthwhile helping people with psychological difficulties to discover the liberating effect of emotional expression through art.
From an artistic point of view, I find Piotr Sonnenwend’s works inspiring, especially with respect to trying out new techniques.
References
Website of Piotr Sonnenwend http://www.sonnewend.de (in German, but presenting many pictures of his works)
his two publications:
Piotr Sonnewend
Titel: „Monochrom Zeichnen“ 2011
Edition Michael Fischer GmbH, Igling
ISBN: 978-3-939817-78-9
Piotr Sonnewend
Titel: „Monochrome Zeichnungen“ 2009, includes a DVD
Edition Michael Fischer GmbH, Igling
ISBN: 978-3-939817-46-8