NEW YORK -
April 6, 2013 -
PRLog --
Apr. 6, 2013 - New York-based digital artist Nancy Gershman knows how visualizing a bereaved person's "preferred story" can pave the way to healing. In a recent segment on BlogTalkRadio's Giving Grief a Voice -
Stuck By Guilt and Regrets? Visualize Your Wished For Reality - host and grief recovery expert Audrey Pellicano asked hard questions of the artist about her process and product for healing in the wake of loss. Gershman is a "prescriptive artist" - a term she coined for fine artists who co-create meaning-laden artwork for individuals not in a frame of mind for "writing their own prescription for happiness." Each of her digital photomontages (or “Healing Dreamscapes”)
are life-affirming stories catalyzed and realized by Gershman with the client's input: namely photos, memories, shared dreams (now dashed) and ah-hah! moments gleaned from therapy. Infusing these Dreamscapes with only positive associations and happier outcomes, Gershman uses photo manipulation software to re-contextualize each element, topping it off with a next baby step clients can practice by viewing their piece.
Listeners can replay the episode http://www.blogtalkradio.com/
building-better-
relationships/
2013/02/26/stuck-
by-guilt-and-
regrets-visualize-
your-wished-
for-reality and learn, among other things, how a prescriptive artist might work with a newly divorced woman to reclaim the things she loves; how future generations can be kept emotionally connected to an ancestor or the recently deceased; and how to re-establish communication lines using a Dreamscape when all other forms of communication have failed. Visually composing in a language the emotional brain understands - sensory images, metaphors and symbols - Gershman reveals highly realistic, wished-for realities can restore hope to help us pursue happiness after months or even years in the dark.
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About Audrey Pellicano, grief counselor
At age 37 with four young kids, Audrey was widowed. Pursuing certification in Guided Imagery, Yoga, Meditation, Nutrition and Grief Recovery, Audrey began her own grief journey. Today Audrey is a grief counselor certified by the Grief Recovery Institute (
http://www.griefrecoverymethod.com/), with nearly four decades as a registered nurse. She works one-on-one with clients as well as with groups via phone therapy. She counsels corporations on the subject of Grief in the Workplace and provides training for managers, human resources and co-workers. Follow her blog at www.wisewidow.com;
join the lively discussions at her monthly Death Cafe in NYC (www.deathcafe.com)
and call in questions to "Giving Grief A Voice" on Blog Talk Radio every Tuesday at 3:00 pm EST (a Gary Loper Building Better Relationships program). Watch for her forthcoming book "Widow Wise: Steps to a New Life."
About Nancy Gershman, prescriptive artist
Nancy Gershman is a digital artist in New York City specializing in fine art "storytelling"
photomontages for celebration, legacy and healing. Grief therapist Courtney Armstrong devotes a chapter on her prescriptive photomontage work in Transforming Traumatic Grief: Six Steps to Move from Grief To Peace (
http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Traumatic-Grief-Sudden...) as does Robert Neimeyer in his compilation, Techniques of Grief Therapy: Creative Practices for Counseling the Bereaved (
http://www.amazon.com/Techniques-Grief-Therapy-Counseling...). Published work on her Healing Dreamscape process has appeared in Annals of American Psychotherapy (http://www.artforyoursake.com/
pressroom/Prescriptive%
20Photomontage_
gershman+baddeley_
092710.pdf), Hektoen International (http://www.hektoeninternational.org/
fishermans_lasagna.html):
Journal of Medical Humanities and Advance for Nurses (http://nursing.advanceweb.com/
Article/positive-
visualization.aspx)
. In 2013, NYU Langone Medical Center in NYC featured her work with eating disorder patients. In 2008-9, Gershman had a solo at The Loyola University Museum of Art in Chicago.
Contact: Audrey Pellicano, audrey@wisewidow.com, 914-703-2688
Account Phone Number