Healing Crayons - An Interview with Mixed Media Artist Therese Roeser
From @healingcrayons on Instagram
Instagram is a wild thing. For all of it’s troubling aspects—inducing bouts of FOMO and unfair comparisons—it has also allowed me to meet so many different wellness practitioners and activists. Since my main motivation for using social media is to educate folks on issues related to health and wellness, I thought I would begin to interview people whose work really inspires me and resonates with me and share those interviews with you.
This week, I am delighted to share with you an interview I did with Therese Roeser. Therese is a social worker, mother of two, and the artist behind the Instagram page @healingcrayons. She makes body-positive collages to both inspire self-compassion and dismantle perfectionism. I was honored to get to speak with her about art, the ripple effect of recovery, and engaging in joyful movement as a true act of self-care. I also got some pro tips from Therese for those of us who feel inspired to dip a toe into mixed media art, and details on her upcoming workshop in Concord, MA.
LK: Can you tell me a bit about how you became an artist who creates the anti diet culture artwork?
TR: I've always liked doing artwork. It's just been something that I've liked doing since I was a child, and I took a lot of classes. But I started making the anti-diet culture collages two years ago. I started because I just wanted to make a message for myself because I feel like, you know, you can flip open any magazine, or you go on Instagram and you're just sort of pummeled with all these images of perfection and what we should look like and what's ideal. And I thought, “No, I'm gonna curate new messages for myself.” And then I thought, “You know, I wonder if other people would like seeing this stuff, too?” And they did! So…
LK: So it was like a form of self-care?
TR: Yeah, a little bit. I'm so tired of seeing this toxic nonsense out there that I'm going to, like, flip it on its head and make something different.
LK: That's awesome. I was wondering, did any of this have to do with the fact that you have children? I know for me, like with magazines and stuff, once I had my daughter I had a “no magazines in the house” policy. Was this also thinking about your kids, and messages and things you'd like them to see?
TR: Oh yeah. I mean our magazines are pretty boring—it's like Scientific American—my husband's a scientist—and, you know, Consumer Reports and Real Simple. Those are our magazines. So I would go to our library because they have a lot of magazines that get donated, and people can do whatever they want with them.
LK: So you would go to the library to get magazines for your art then?
TR: Yeah, like recycling. Like if I use anything from Shape of Self. I don't buy fashion and health magazines, so I find them there.
LK: That actually answers a different question: I was wondering where you do find the images for your art.
TR: Those images? Yeah, like Yoga Journal and all that. At my library.
LK: Pro tip! All right, so I guess my next question for you comes from a particular collage, which I can show to you. [see below]
From @healingcrayons on Instagram
It says, “recovery has a positive ripple effect.”
That really resonated with me. A lot of my work started from creating what I wanted. I'm going to be the trainer that I kept saying I wanted out there, and that I wished I had had. So I was curious, what role the art had in your own healing, as well as healing for others, and how you see the positive ripple effect?
TR: I think there's something about when I make a piece of artwork—it really takes time. So it's like I get this idea in my head of what I want to say, and then I'm sort of going through magazines and papers and I'm coming up with an idea. So I'm really kind of deep into this idea, right. And there's something to it that almost feels ritualistic. It's like, okay, now I have this idea, and now I'm going to put it down on paper. And now I'm going to adorn it. I'm going to decorate it so it becomes this special, meaningful thing. It's not just a thought flipping through my head, like a positive affirmation. It's this thing I've taken time to look at and put energy into. And then I make it look like something I want to keep looking at. Right?
LK: Right.
TR: So in some ways, it has really helped to cement some stuff in me, you know? It's like repeating positive thoughts or repeating, like when you're learning to write or you're learning to do somethingwith your hands. I think that helps to embed it. Right?
LK: Right. And so . . . you're sitting with it for a while and almost holding it like an intention?
TR: A little bit. Exactly—yeah.
LK: Wow, that's awesome. And then . . . you share it!
TR: Right. And some people are like,”Oh YEAH!” And some people are like, “NO, you're wrong!” But I like the people that will say, “Oh, yeah,” because, you know, it's important to know that other people are wanting this freedom, too, and other people are wanting to hear about self-care and self-acceptance, and I think that's something that we really crave a lot of.
LK: The community support for our own self-care?
TR: Yes, yes. I mean, I think about how I am a member of Alcoholics Anonymous. I've been sober for almost five years, and it's really one of the amazing things about AA— that you can go to these meetings and talk with people and, you know, people have your back. Right?
LK: Right.
TR: And it's totally supportive. That is really lacking for people who are recovering from eating disorders or even people who are just trying to like themselves.
LK: Right.
TR: But most of the messages, even the people you know—your friends, the people who you love, your family members. Most of the messages you're getting from them are not always very supportive. People are commenting on other people's bodies, saying, “You look so great. Did you lose a ton of weight?” So, I guess I'm trying to create something a little bit like what AA does for me. Just kind of creating a little bit of a nest, maybe.
LK: I love that. A little online nest! Which actually brings me to the next thing I had here: I saw in an article that you give talks on eating disorder recovery through the Multiservice Eating Disorders Recovery Association. Is that how you are bringing some of your work to your community in person? And is that different from doing the online art?
TR: I actually started doing that a few years ago. I think my talk has changed—not that the experiences that I've had have really changed, but the way I give my talk now, I kind of talk through my art. So I'll show some art and I can sort of do it chronologically. Parts of my recovery or, some of the things from my history. And the art actually helps me to give the talk a little more succinctly.
LK: Do you ever make art in a group?
TR: You know what, I haven't done that, but I'm going to! On May 2, I'm going to be having my own workshop. It’s through the Emerson Umbrella, which is the community art center in Concord, Massachusetts, where I live.
LK: Oh, that's very exciting! We will let folks know!
Now, I wanted to shift gears. As you know, I do movement stuff, and some of the themes you're addressing with your art are about finding a healthy relationship with both movement and rest. The two collages that jump to mind are “exercise minus stipulations equals movement,” and one of your hashtags there was #joyfulmovement, which I loved. And you talked about how movement helps you combat “winter blues.”
From @healingcrayons on Instagram
From @healingcrayons on Instagram
And the other one that I got super excited about is, “Sitting is okay,” with the chair and the heart.
The people I work with are looking for a movement that feels good and are doing it for various therapeutic reasons. Do you have any advice for people grappling with the tension around the life-affirming nature of joyful movement, and our need for rest—because there is often tension there? And also for folks grappling with the tension from the larger messages that we get from culturally around demonizing rest and exercises for weight loss?
TR: It is so tricky. In terms of moving and rest for myself, I do think it's important for me to have some kind of movement fairly regularly. And I don't like to say three times a week or four times because: one I really am not good with schedules—I am much more of a spontaneous person and that works just better for me. Also with my family, I need more flexibility. But I do find that when I am able to get outside or I'm able to, you know, dance, or do something with my kids, or even go to the gym and have what one would think of is like a traditional “work out,” my head feels a little clearer. It's a little less full of the buzzing noises. That said, it's important for me, too, to acknowledge when my body says, “No, you know, today's just going to be a slower day. Today is just going to be maybe doing some stretching or, it's just going to be a day to rest and relax.” I think our bodies actually need that, but we think, “Couch potato! So bad.” But resting can be really restorative.
I don't want to chronically stress my body by making it always move. So in terms of moving not for a “body project,” I thought a lot about this because not all body projects are bad. Like I have had physical therapy, and that's a body project, right? To do certain exercises to strengthen or to help repair a certain part of your body.
It's not about this aesthetic thing but about moving your body from a place of joy and a place of like true self-care. People do a lot of the ”love yourself thin” or, “I'm really loving myself when I when my body looks a certain way,” and that's not really getting at the heart of it. It's kind of like, how much would you encourage your puppy to play or your kids to play or your kids to move? It's more along those lines.
That is probably one of the biggest shames: how exercise or movement has just gotten wrapped up in diet culture and eating disorders. The shame is that it becomes this thing that people feel like, “No, I hate it! I hate moving,” because it's something they've been sort of forced to do. They made themselves move in ways that just don't feel comfortable and are exhausting.
LK: Yeah, I always saw any sort of exercise as punishment. Punishment for being too much. But I wound up with a bad back, just because sometimes things happen, and my disc herniated first when I was twenty. Because of my back I needed to strength train which I initially found off-putting. It took working with somebody who just happens to love the quality of life that comes from strength training and I just naturally shifted my relationship to the gym and movement. It started off a little bit like, “Oh, this is what I get,” but it started to become “I get to do this.” I felt cool! It was like “feelings things.” I felt cool. I felt strong. And I felt like a really great mom because I could throw my kid on my shoulders.
TR: Right!
LK: So you mentioned that you are spontaneous. I love that you honor that about yourself. I think a lot of people think, “Well, no, I have to schedule this. This is my schedule.” And some people have to do that to get it done. But not everybody does. I was just curious, because you said you’re spontaneous, how do you know what you would like to do or are going to do for movement?
TR: You know, like some mornings, and this happens more in the winter, I wake up a and I sort of feel like, “Ugh, really?” You know, just sort of like that mentality.
LK: Yes!
TR: And I go, “You know, I think a walk is going to be good.” And if I look outside [and it’s] gray and gross and I go, “You know, do you feel like getting in water?” Because we belong to a gym that has a lap lane. I don't say, “You have to do it this long. You have to. You can't take breaks.” I have to let myself take breaks, because that sort of continuous movement was one of my very disordered things: “I have to do it for X amount of time,” monitoring my pulse. So that's kind of how I decide.
LK: That's awesome. So you have a conversation with yourself. I asked because if that's how we approach the world, sometimes we take it for granted that we feel like we can do that. And some people really want to be able to play it loose, but they don't even know what that would look like. So I liked having the opportunity to have you share that with us.
TR: And it can be like varying degrees, too. It can be like, okay. I'd like to exercise today. What am I going to do? I have from one to two o'clock open. I'd like to move a little bit—what seems enjoyable, or manageable, for today.
LK:Awesome. So I'm going back to collage. I'm curious how you wound up with that medium? I think I may have shared with you in one of my emails that I’m a ‘90s teen, so I was involved with zines and collage.
TR: Oh, yeah! Yes.
LK: How did you gravitate towards collage as a medium?
TR: You know, I've always really liked collage. It is definitely imperfect, it's a little messy. I like drawing, but I don't like drawing everything. I like using a lot of different colors and textures.
LK: Yeah.
TR: Yeah. I mean, mixed media has always been the coolest thing to me.
LK: And I was actually wondering how big they are? I just see a little square on my Instagram!
TR: They're small, they're like six by six.
LK: We spoke a little bit about how you get magazines from your local library, but I'd love for you to share, for somebody who's reading this who is like, “I want to try collage,” but who feels bound by rules and stuff, or who says to themselves, “But I don't know how how to do collage”—what are some steps or basic tools they need?
TR: It depends if it's something you want to hang up. Is it something you want to keep? Something you can get is a small stretch canvas on a wooden frame. You could just paint over it with some acrylic paint. Or you could take one of my favorite adhesives, Mod Podge, and you could just brush that over and, just to get a background base color, you can lay a sheet of color tissue paper on top of that. And then just cut things from magazines.
You can even, if you have a hot glue gun, use actual 3D items, rather than just pieces of paper. But I like to have sort of like a central idea and then either decorate that idea or express that idea through some images. And the thing about collage that's great is, you can't do it wrong. It's unapologetically right.
LK: Yeah, it's true! And think it's pretty powerful for especially what you're doing, which is taking magazine messages and flipping them on their head—using magazine messages. I love the idea of taking something and giving it your own meaning.
LK: Any other sources for ephemera and stuff that you like?
TR: I like going out in my yard and getting things like acorns and pine cones, things like that. And there's a natural grocery store near me, and I do like buying like rosebuds and lavender from them.
LK: All right! And if folks are in the Concord area, and they want to collage in a group with you, they can do so in May.
TR: Yeah! In May! Yes!
If you are in the Concord, MA area Therse’s workshop will be on May 2 at The Umbrella. You can learn more and register here.
(This interview has been edited for space and clarity.)