Why do we feel called to create art? What does art accomplish? Is the clarity of creation a way back to mental health?

For the groundbreaking Catalan psychiatrist Francesc Tousquelles, art, labor, and psychotherapy all constituted a cohesive form of work, through which a person who had lost the experience of reality or self could begin to reconstitute these mental frameworks.

With this conceptual framework in mind, Fountain House member and artist Conor Gannon, in conjunction with psychiatrist Dr. Christopher Landry, led a 9-week mixed-media workshop for the Fountain House community. Painters, sculptors, musicians, and writers met at the Clubhouse for nine weeks, alternating between art creation and discussion, to develop their accounts of the value of creative expression in the context of mental illness and recovery.

The workshop, exhibition, and accompanying panel are organized in response to Francesc Tousquelles: Avant-Garde Psychiatry and the Birth of Art Brut, currently on view at the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), through August 18, 2024.

Select pieces created during the workshop will be on display at Fountain House Gallery.

Participating artists: George Peñón Cassallo, David Cruz, DubbleX, Betty Eastland, Conor Gannon, Louise Kavadlo, Christopher Landry, Ray Lopez, Tzu Moy, Jeff Nadel, Jesse Newberg, Arturo Sitjar, Daniel Skaggs, and Karl Stand.

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