Art therapy: 'Painting when you're crying is a different experience. You're just in that painting'
Vancouver artist Andrea Hooge discovered a new relationship to art when her mother passed away from cancer
When Vancouver painter Andrea Hooge's mother passed away from breast cancer, her relationship to her art shifted. Making art came to have a therapeutic aspect.
As she explains: "Painting when you're crying or painting when you're upset — it's a different experience because you're just in that painting in a way."
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"I was trying to use art [as] therapy."
Hooge was surprised by how her work process changed as a result. "I was coping with my own fears of getting cancer or of dying. It was strange because I wasn't used to becoming emotional over the stuff that I was doing."
Looking back, the work has a weight to it, and she prefers to keep it private. "I wouldn't get rid of [the art] but I don't think I'd put it on display either."
"It's like an old diary — it's there and it's meaningful and sometimes you go back and look at it."
See more of Andrea Hooge's work below:
Art Minute is a CBC Arts series taking you inside the minds of Canadian artists to hear what makes them tick and the ideas behind their work.