| AHN INTERVIEW: Michele Cassou
-Michele Cassou Michele Cassou is the founder of the internationally renowned Point Zero method of painting, which uses painting as a tool for self-discovery and spiritual exploration. Her method emphasizes unrestricted creativity, spontaneity and process over product. For children, this way of painting allows them complete freedom to discover themselves through art without any expectations or judgement. Michele has published a book on children's creativity called Kid's Play as well as a CD called “How to Jump Start Children's Creative Power” and a DVD called “The Flowering of Children's Creativity.” She is also the author of Point Zero: Creativity Without Limits and offers workshops across the US and in Europe for adults and children. A native of France who now resides in California, Michele Cassou was interviewed by Mary Daniel Hobson in August 2006. |
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Michele Cassou: I was twenty-one years old and looking for something that would touch me deep inside and fill me up. I got started when I happened to see children paint freely. The creative energy in the room won me over instantly. I saw what I had been looking for always. I was so touched, I cried. I started painting the same week and never stopped. Mary Daniel: What inspired the creation of the Painting Experience and Point Zero Painting? Where does the term Point Zero come from? Michele: After teaching for a while I decided to call the work the Painting Experience to focus the attention on process rather than product. Later I called it Point Zero because Point Zero is the birthplace of creation. Point Zero is a place in us that is free of conditioning and expectations, that place is where intuition is born. It is underneath all we have absorbed and learned; it is a place where the "should's" and "have to" do not exist; it has the freedom and space needed to create. Mary Daniel: I love your emphasis on process over product. Can you describe the process of Point Zero painting and why product is not the goal? Michele: To create from Point Zero is to create purely from intuition by not letting the mind interfere with demands, rules or expectations that would distort the flow of creation. It is truly letting happen what needs to happen. It is getting out of the way. It is being completely honest and willing and free to be oneself. The joy of letting our being express itself without restraint is exquisite. Not only does expression happen, but exploration of who we are and of life itself -- all the way to the spiritual dimensions. |
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Michele: It is most important for children to create from Point Zero because there they learn to express themselves, to trust themselves, to trust their intuition. They develop a great capacity to respond to feelings and to the demands and challenges of life. It help them grow up and become self sufficient and emotionally stronger. Having developed their intuition when they become their own authentic person and are not afraid to go for what is important to them and often end up in very creative jobs. Mary Daniel: What has been the impact of the Point Zero painting process on children? Michele: Children have been seen to work better at school, to have better relationships with their siblings, and to handle family difficulties and challenges in a healthier way. They also become more resourceful and creative in many areas. There are many examples in my book Kids Play of what can happen to children when they paint. |
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Michele: Yes, absolutely. Art can heal if it is done from intuition. Its power is amazing because it keeps freeing children from unexpressed or painful feelings and helps them integrate them. When children are not told what to paint and how to do it, they learn to trust themselves and their feelings in the process of painting. It is amazing to see how painting touches their entire lives. Mary Daniel: How do you sustain the great work you do -- emotionally, creatively, and financially? Michele: I have so much gratitude for having had this wonderful passion for creativity. It has sustained me during the greatest challenges in my life. At this point it would be much more difficult for me not-to-paint than to keep painting. The tool of painting has brought me my deepest joy and greatest discoveries. I do paint a lot even after so many years. I am constantly surprised that after such a long time I still find painting new and astonishing. The connection of creativity and spirit is my greatest joy and constantly unfolding. It feeds me and fills me endlessly. I am also blessed to have my teaching sustain me financially. Mary Daniel:What advice to you have for others wishing to access the creative fire within? Michele: First, find out what creativity truly is. There are many misconceptions out there that could prevent the depths of the process from happening. When the depths do not unfold, our life is not transformed by creativity and passion is not met. Creativity is a tool to find oneself and to transcend oneself and explore the deeper dimensions of life and spirit. Someone that creates should experience great surprises and insights as they go along if they practice according to pure creativity; if they don't I would encourage them to question the way they create and if they have some agendas or ultimate motive rather than surrendering to the truth and wisdom of their being. |
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For more information about Michele Cassou's work, please visit www.michelecassou.com. |
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FEATURED BOOK:
You are a Work of Art!: Interactive Lessons for Children to Express Emotions
By Renee Sevelitte
"Expressing their emotions through art allows children to free up their minds from worries, to cope with their struggles and to cherish their victories." -Renee SevelitteThis book outlines ways that parents or teachers can help children express their emotional life through art. Each of the ten chapters describes an emotional state, such as happy, sad, angry, excited, or fearful, and then offers a specific exercise to work creatively with that emotion. For example, for the first chapter called Angry, children are encouraged to work with line - making thick or thin lines on paper in a color of their choice to vent the anger onto the page. Each chapter also includes technical advice. For example, the chapter on the emotion angry had basic information on the quality of a line - thick or thin and its value. Overall, this book is a nice introduction to the expressive power of visual art for children.
This 48-page softcover book was published by Phenomaxon in 2004. It sells for $9.99 plus $2 shipping. To order a copy, please visit http://homepage.mac.com/reneesevelitte/
FEATURED BOOK:
The Moon Balloon: A Journey of Hope and Discovery for Children and Families
By Joan Drescher
"The Moon Balloon is a special book for you to use and enjoy. It will take you on a trip in an air balloon! During your trip you will get in touch with the most powerful gift you have, your own imagination." -Joan DrescherThe Moon Balloon awakens children to their imagination as a tool to help manage and transform challenging situations and emotions. As the author explains, “The Moon Balloon provides a safe outlet to help children cope with the stress and mixed feelings that often accompany illness, change, or any new situations…. You can use the Moon Balloon book as a picture book with very small children or as a drawing and verbal exercise for older children.” The book combines colorful illustration pages with black and white drawing pages where children can add color, and choose to express certain emotions and ideas in the blank spaces provided. The book reads like a guided imagery journey of releasing the sandbags of heavy emotions and lifting off into the sky of possibility. The author developed this book out of workshops she led with children and their parents in hospital settings. She learned “how powerful symbols can be and how they transcend language…In the world full of sadness and pain, I have seen these balloons open hearts to hope.”
Published by the Association of the Care of Children's Health in 1996, this 36-page softcover book sells for $14.95. To order a copy visit themoonballoon.com/ or call 781-749-5179.
FEATURED BOOK:
Making Art Together: How Collaborative Art-Making Can Transform Kids, Classrooms, and Communities
By Mark Cooper and Lisa Sjostrom
"Collaboration is the heart and soul of my approach to art-making…Collaboration makes big dreams possible.” This book is a great resource for working collaboratively with groups of children to enhance their sense of community and interconnectedness. The authors' approach includes five basic principles: the teacher is the master artist, have a clear framework, work collaboratively at every state, draw on contemporary art for inspiration, and tie the artwork to the larger world. This latter principle is at the crux of why working this way can be so powerful for children, because it allows them to come together and participate in a community-based way of working that can enhance not only artmaking, but also their sense of self. It allows them to feel part of a community process and connect directly with issues in the larger world. Examples of projects are given throughout the book, from anti-violence billboard projects to a post-9/11 piece for peace project. This book would be particularly valuable for teachers as it offers specific advice on how to get key players like principals, board members and funders behind a project. This book is packed with valuable information for anyone wishing to make art collaboratively, in particular those in educational settings.
This 152-page hardback book was published by Beacon Press in Boston, Massachusetts in 2006. It sells $26.95 and can be ordered by clicking here.
FEATURED LINK:
The Imagination Factory
www.kid-at-art.com/
“There is no machinery at The Imagination Factory, and smokestacks don't pollute the air. Instead, we teach children and their caregivers creative ways to recycle by making art.”
The Imagination Factory is a great online resource for kids' creativity. The site includes the Trash Matcher which matches your products with art projects, encouraging recycling of items such as brown grocery bags, cereal boxes, bed sheets and more.
FEATURED POST:
The Arts & Healing Connection Center
Each month, we publish a highlight from the Arts & Healing Connection Center.
This month we feature a post by Laura, an artist/counselor/teacher from Washington State, who writes:
“As a teacher, I was in a resource room with elementary age children that were of all learning levels. I had one autistic student"G" that had come along way. I was substituting for the regular teacher that day. I had become very familiar with the students. "G" was learning to keep his behavior in line and communicate his needs instead of going into a tantrum. It was the end of the day and he was finished before the others. The children were lined up in front of the lockers and he could not get past them to his. Having completed art projects that day with many of them, the supplies were out for all to use. He went over to the table and started to draw. He gave me the paper....it was a picture of himself getting his coat out of the locker. It was what he was trying to tell me, but could not get it out in words. This small school does not offer Art as an option for students.
I thought this was an amazing experience and one to share. I do not know where "G" is now, but it was a GREAT thing that he had art materials at hand that day. "G" was able to express himself in another way. One he was VERY clear about.
If you have a school in your neighborhood, push for the arts. It is so important in so many ways!”
"
This post appears on the Connection Center under the forum, Share Your Art and Healing Story.
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