When Art Meets Therapy

Leaving was like leaving an appointment, but arriving for counseling with Montano felt like dropping in on friends. Her sessions, held from 1-3 p.m., were organized by Chinatown alternative-art space Human Resources, and specifically by Jennifer Doyle, a writer, scholar and Human Resources board member, who discusses Montano's art in her just-published book, Hold it Against Me.

While Blum & Poe is an established gallery with a formal, confident polish, Human Resources relies on volunteer effort and exists to do informal things more established spaces can't or don't do.

Montano's sessions were conducted via Skype, since the New York–based artist had canceled her planned California trip after breaking her hand. Montano had asked that every participant bring food for someone in addition to composing a three-minute account of their highs and lows. The plan was that we would lunch together while awaiting our turns.

PHOTO BY HEATHER RASMUSSEN

Julian Hoeber's Self-Consciousness Machine in his recent exhibit at Blum & Poe

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More About

• Linda Montano
• Julian Hoeber
• Jen Collins
• Blum & Poe Gallery
• James Turrell

Six of us took turns meeting with her in the privacy of a home office. Our audio connection was bad, so we muted the computer and switched to phone halfway through the session. It was more like speaking with a down-to-earth oracle than a therapist. She asked me to recount memories, all from childhood. On the spot, I remembered two girls at camp who stopped playing with me, I thought, because they learned I was younger than they, and the time a girl from church asked if my mom was crabby because she was pregnant and I couldn't decide whether yes or no was the safer answer.

These and other reflections prompted an assignment: Spend five to 10 minutes a day with your eyes closed, Montano told me, allowing yourself to trust that no one will pull the rug out. Then she sang me a song, which is how she ended each session that day.

"Artists tend to deny the relationship of their work to therapy and subsequently to psychology," Montano, who is not a licensed psychotherapist, writes in her 2005 book, Letters From Linda Montano, explaining her decision to offer art/life counseling. She adds that artists often explain what they do in art-historical terms instead. "This need for professional validation is somewhat arcane." But, she continues, artists are always diverting worry and anxiety into creative expression, which suggests their whole endeavor is therapeutic. So why pretend it's not?