Abstract

Art-making with fabrics and fibers is a natural and creative method of self-expression and can enrich the healing process. This book is a complete guide to using textiles in therapy with female clients.

Reviewing the role of textile-based handcrafts in the lives of women today, and integrating the life issues they face with the therapeutic making of fiber art, the book covers everything from the psychology of this therapeutic approach to how to carry it out effectively with a wide range of clients. Specific techniques and suggestions for practice are provided, alongside chapters on expressive writing, guided imagery, and cross-cultural applications of therapy.

This innovative book will be a useful tool for therapists, students, artists looking to build on self-exploration, and anybody else interested in the therapeutic benefits that art-making with textiles can bring about.

By writing this book, Ann Futterman Collier has encouraged therapists to understand and use their skills to enrich women's lives, by expanding their horizons, and giving them tools to cope with their journey through life while exploring textile mediums. I heartily endorse this endeavor.
Anne Field, international teacher, weaver, spinner and writer, Christchurch, New Zealand
In this book, Ann has woven her two natural callings as a psychologist and fiber artist. She has created the likings of a Brook's Bouquet where the weft yarn (psychology) is wrapped around by several warps (creative art making) to draw them together. The result is a weaving that is layered with textile art metaphors that inspire the reader to use the creative process for self-renewal. The golden thread that is interwoven throughout the book is the call to listen to your creative spirit and enjoy where the textile journey takes you.
Kathy Gotshall, Director of the Master of Arts in Art Therapy Program and Assistant Professor, Graduate Art Therapy, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Indiana
For a male psychiatrist Using Textile Handcrafts in Therapy with Women presents a unique cross-cultural journey into unfamiliar feminine territory, ably guided by Futterman Collier who weaves Jungian psychology, contemporary mental health practice and the media of textile arts in a style that is both entertaining and enlightening.
Peter Aitken, Consultant Liaison Psychiatrist, Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital and Director of Research & Development, Devon Partnership NHS Trust, UK
Ann Futterman Collier is a licensed Clinical Psychologist with many years experience of working with textile arts and therapy. She is an Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in abnormal psychology, counseling techniques, health psychology, and art therapy theory; she also conducts research on how art-making can be used to promote well-being and mood repair. Ann resides in Flagstaff, Arizona.
This is a delightful book, written with love, wisdom and enthusiasm. It would probably appeal most to women therapists who already work creatively with their clients but would also be of interest to mental health practitioners and to the many women who work with textiles as an occupation or hobby, who might like to learn more about its therapeutic possibilities.
Therapy Today
The author has chosen the medium of fiber as a path to encourage her clients to discover and create meaning out of what often appears as senseless and traumatic. She encourages people, whether they are helping professionals or clients, to not hold themselves back through some expectation of having to be artistic but rather to explore and, through some of the guidelines she has developed over her numerous years of practice and careful observations, regain a liberating sense of self-esteem and integrity.
Sheila Hicks, artist, and daughter Itaka Martignoni, gestalt-therapist