Reviews

ArtBridges/ToileDesArts:

Tessa Mendel has over 20 years of experience as a theatre director, educator and community-based arts facilitator from Nova Scotia, who has worked in communities on the east coast and in Toronto. In Using the Creative Arts for Transformational Learning, Mendel candidly describes her own personal journey and experiences with the creative arts and education in a Canadian context. This engaging book is built on critical reflection, individual exercises, and group activities mixed with critical theory and frameworks for change. A key theme is how we can use the arts in holistic ways, to affect change that is transformational and inclusive of our whole selves.

The exercises included can be adapted to specific learning contexts such as classrooms, workshops, and larger community-based projects. They incorporate a diverse mix of creative arts approaches, including sound, movement and dance, theatre, visual arts, poetry, storytelling, and more.

Using the Creative Arts for Transformational Learning is a mix of personal reflection, hands on exercises, and background theory that will be of interest to facilitators, organizers and educators who use the creative arts to support transformational change. Also included are appendices with more tools and background information, such as a Creative Arts Learning Cycle template for planning, facilitation tips, and introductions to key principles of community-based anti-oppressive work and community arts.

“Weaving together theory, personal experience and a deep knowledge of the power of Art to transform individuals and communities, Mendel has written a comprehensive and accessible book that fills the meaning and how-to gap skirted by much of the current discourse around arts for social engagement and community arts. Read this book! Its pages will inspire and guide artists, adult educators, and activists to create meaningful arts-based opportunities for personal and social change.”

—Terri Whetstone, Artist and Executive Director, 4Cs Foundation, Nova Scotia

“Using the Creative Arts for Transformational Learning is a welcome new resource for all of us working in community-engaged arts. It expresses the difficulties and desires concerning the combination of personal and social/political creative expression with a refreshing mix of subtle thought, personal experience and hands-on advice. Tessa Mendel responds to matters at the heart of our work – boldly asking a question that often gets side-stepped: how exactly does art-making cause change? In responding to this question, she succeeds in the delicate task of offering a coherent analysis and approach that illuminates theory and assists practice without being prescriptive. I know that I will be referring to, citing and recommending this book for years to come, and I’m proud that Jumblies is able to help publish and promote it.”

—Ruth Howard, Artistic Director, Jumblies Theatre, Toronto

“Part memoir, part work-book, part-theory, part exercise-guide, this is a must-read and must-use book for any arts practitioner interested in personal and social change. As a visual arts university instructor, as an individual practicing visual artist, and as a community arts facilitator, I will be guided by the principles and deepening learning I found in this book.”

—Rose Adams, Artist and Educator, Foundation Faculty, NSCAD University