Painting keeps the blues away

When early evenings leave you craving sunshine and work is piling up and that relationship isn’t going anywhere, how do you stop the worries running through your mind? NAIT Students’ Association has one answer that combines two therapeutic techniques.

Art After Dark aims to take students’ minds out of what can become a stressful downward spiral. The event runs for an hour and half once a month on Mondays and people enjoy it so much they typically stay longer.

“The experience, I find …is when you are doing a painting you are actually thinking about doing that painting and you are not worried about those other things that might be looming over you,” explained Tyler Dianocky, painter and guide for Art After Dark.

To take a break from brushing colour onto canvas, January’s session featured a 15 minute focused meditation and February brought a local guitarist to provide acoustic accompaniment.  Focused on more than one technique to relax students, it is no wonder this evening quickly fills up. A few techniques used include:

• Art therapy
• Music therapy
• Meditation

NAITSA applied for an Alberta mental health grant targeted for colleges in order to offer the evening free of charge. Rechelle Eklund, Event Coordinator at NAITSA, has enjoyed facilitating these evenings.

“It was the Vice-President of Student Services that came up with the idea…she had gone to an Art After Dark event and thought it was really good …stress relieving so she brought it on campus,” said Eklund.

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