Review

"Brush Creek," Acrylic on Canvas.

Avis Garrett-Baptist

Images Art Gallery
7320 W. 80th St.
Overland Park, KS
913.232.7113

Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday
Runs through: Aug. 14.

Artist's site: http://www.avisgarrett.com
Gallery site: http://www.imagesartgallery.org

The words "therapy" and "therapeutic" get applied to a wide range of situations, not all of them appropriate fits. A good deal of the time, what we like to call therapy is simple wish fulfillment.

In the context of the phrase "art therapy," however, the word fits.

The idea, according to the American Art Therapy Association's mission statement, is that the creative process involved in making art is healing and life enhancing — not merely in a generic sense, but in one of helping people work through specific issues and/or conditions.

Today's artist has made that proposition her life's work.

Avis Garrett-Baptist, whose work is featured (along with that of watercolorist Dawn Thomas) at Images Art Gallery in Downtown Overland Park, is a registered art therapist and women's issues advocate. One of her success stories was Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton, who took a drawing class at age 68 to combat depression and became a renowned artist in her later years.

Another success story: Garrett-Baptist herself, who not only acknowledges the help art therapy has provided over the years but also belies the notion (perpetuated by pop culture)  that therapeutic art must be visually wrenching to be effective.

Her acrylic paintings (such as Brush Creek, pictured above) are colorful, vibrant and lively. Whether presenting images of real people or places, or dealing with more abstract concepts and visual stylings, Garrett-Baptist conveys a sense of warmth and good grace and offers opportunities for a viewer to settle into her paintings and be comfortable.

Think of her work, if you will, as therapy for eyes and minds needing a break from the visual and mental jangles of daily life.

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