Interview with Jan Ferris in Sacramento Magazine

Art Therapist: Hannah Klaus Hunter
“Davis 7” by Hannah Klaus Hunter

February 2010 If you click on the title above, you can read an interesting view of my work as an art therapist. The interview with Jan Ferris, the writer, took place at time when I had lost many children whom I was close to at the hospital. All were girls, all with some form of cancer. The interview reflects my feeling of darkness at that time and, simultaneously, the capacity of art to carry me on. Using the cloth, bits of paper and paint, I've created panels for each of these children. As Jan noted, I want to express my belief that these lives do matter and do live on in all those who knew them.

Coming home to the studio

It's always exciting to return home after vacation to see what the studio has in store for me and I for the studio. It's a complex mix, this relationship. While I've been away, the pieces have been sitting accumulating presence and I've been storing up new ideas. Each moment away is a movie frame; this large leaf, that tree, the way in which a woman wears a strand of pearls. Images are stored to be retrieved in the studio, popping up in a seemingly random order, as in a dream.

Beginning Again


I like thinking about the meaning contained in the book title "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki;" the sense that no matter how many times you've started and stopped a project, you can always begin again. So I am, inspired by the Blastoff class I'm taking with Alyson Stanfield, I'm selecting and clicking away and feeling as if I'm painting with keys instead of a paintbrush. I'm excited about posting entries on a regular basis now that I'm back.

1. Art Therapy at UC Davis Children's Hospital

Art therapy in the pediatric setting not only helps children to cope with the hospital experience, but also allows them to take an active part in their own healing. Art therapy places the value on art as a tool and not as a fine art product. During individual sessions and the daily art group, children engage in a wide variety of mediums and techniques which are both developmentally appropriate, enjoyable and open to the entire family, thus allowing families a place to participate in normal activities.