Miriam El-Abbassi | Arts Editor
Featured Image: Geehan El-Abbassi is a second-year kinesiology student at York, as well as a visual artist. | Ashkan Bayat
Geehan El-Abbassi is a second-year kinesiology student at York, as well as a visual artist. While these two interests are seemingly on opposite ends of the spectrum, she finds a way to integrate them seamlessly.
“I think I was around seven when I first started to draw, and from there I just took off. I tried a bunch of different techniques, and while some worked for me, a lot of them did not.”
El-Abbassi started to explore a variety of different mediums to express her creativity. At first, it was simply pencil and paper, filling multiple sketchbooks with drawings of anything and everything that appealed to her. She then transitioned to using oil pastels she found while at the dollar store. After several unsatisfactory attempts to create anything substantial, she bought a small canvas, and several miniature bottles of paint. El-Abbassi explains that it was through a long process of trial and error which allowed her to find the medium she was most comfortable working in.
With the rise of social media, a much more accessible environment has become available for newer artists, allowing them to create and build a platform for themselves, with very limited resources.
“Looking at what other artists were doing also helped me to find my own distinct style. Platforms, like Instagram, were useful when I came to a block and needed inspiration.”
El-Abbassi has recently begun to promote her own art on similar platforms, and hopes to one day showcase her work to a wider audience. Although, with her major in kinesiology, she has found an avenue where she can combine both passions.
“Being a kinesiology student, there are so many possibilities for specialization. The health field is so incredibly varied that I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to go into when I started my first year. When I discovered that art therapy was a real possibility for me, it just made perfect sense.”
Art therapists use creative techniques, such as drawing and painting, to “examine the psychological and emotional undertones in the patient’s art.” These methods are useful to interpret non-verbal messages that could potentially be revealed within the art itself, allowing for a better understanding of the patient’s feelings.
“Taking painting and drawing-focused courses at York also helped me to expand my view on what art meant, and allowed me to further experiment with new mediums and subjects. It showed me how certain techniques really required a lot of time and patience, while others could be done more haphazardly.”
El-Abbassi continues to work on growing her artistic skills in her free time, and hopes that, “newer artists take advantage of how easy it can be to share your creativity with the world.”
