Inner Journeying Through Art-Journaling

Refreshingly, this book finds a middle path that can be both therapeutically useful and also allows the reader to travel at a pace that feels safe for them…the ideas and method are very grounded and both counsellors and clients will find much that is useful in this offering. – Life Works
Inner-Journeying Through Art Journaling will be of particular interest to those looking to embark upon their own holistic journey. and of relevance to art therapists, counsellors and sprititual directors alike. – Inside Out

This book gently guides the non-practising artist through some of the techniques and theory of art but always with reassuring and non-judgemental words. But this is not an art book, “art-journaling is,” the author says, “the use of simple art materials, the language of design, gazing, written journaling, noticing, to help focus, express, respond to, uncover or clarify inner wisdom.” The emphasis is on the spiritual practice and inner journey of art-journaling rather than on the product. The book is illustrated with words and pictures drawn from the author’s own experience and the experience of those she has guided in this practice.

After reading the book I went out and bought some oil pastels and (yet another) blank notebook. I look forward to finding the courage to using them in some of the ways Marianne Hieb suggests.

Having discovered the value of art journaling in my own life, I was intrigued by the title of Marianne Hieb’s latest work: Inner Journeying Through Art Journaling…as I delved into it, I found that it was rich and poetic, filled with inspiring exercises and examples - a book to savour and linger over, and certainly not one to devour in a single sitting.

I would recommend this book to anyone who wants t learn more about art-journaling, whether a beginner or a seasoned journaler.

This book gives practical instruction in recording your feelings from day to day in a visual diary with words as a supplement and aide-memoir. This process is regarded as a spiritual practice, almost a form of prayer, and is geared to people “who are encountering loss, grief, resistance, or discernment issues” as a therapeutic tool. Marianne Hieb also deals with the difficulty of avoiding intellectual constraints to spontaneous creativity.

She does give a welcome intellectual framework in terms of design theory, and her definition of marks, line, shape, texture, form and colour use a simple language and are beautifully clear. The chapter on “The Principles of Design and the Creative Process” contains sections on balance, movement, rhythm, contrast, emphasis, pattern and unity as an introduction to forgetting and remembering, compassion, befriending the creative process and faceted prayer, which she calls “a blank openness into which you invite the voice of the Holy”.

Marianne Hieb is trained as a studio artist, art therapist, spiritual director, and is currently the director of the Wellness Spirituality Programs at Lourdes Wellness Centre.

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