CERF+ and Wellness for Makers Team Up to Produce Hands-On Series, Self-Care and Your Studio Practice
CERF+ and Wellness for Makers announce the launch of a DIY video series to promote artist health and wellness. Each video focuses on some of the common problems faced by artists with an active studio practice and includes tips that help relieve strain and reduce the risk of injury. The videos feature Missy Graff Ballone, founder of Wellness for Makers, licensed massage therapist, yoga instructor (RYT 500), and metalsmith. Watch the videos here.
“As an artist, I understand the physical toll that an active studio practice can take on the body. I know what it’s like to work long hours, get into a groove, and not realize that I’ve been working in the same position for an extended period of time. The Self-Care and Your Studio Practice video series provides accessible techniques that help artists address these kinds of issues and feel good in their bodies,” says Graff Ballone.
In each video, Graff Ballone meets an artist in their studio and offers practical self-care techniques that can be added to their daily studio routine. A visit with weaver and fiber artist Jillian Zoltner Wolf highlights a few ways to address tightness in the neck and shoulders. A talk with mixed media artist Cheryl R. Riley focuses on how to stand in a way that relieves pressure on your joints. A session with Loren Abbate, a printmaker and co-curator of Deep Space Gallery, addresses the common issues that artists experience in their hands as a result of excessive phone and computer usage.
The videos are based on information that came out of CERF+ and Wellness for Makers’ Artist Health and Wellness Survey conducted in March 2017. More than 300 artists from different craft disciplines responded. The results showed that:
- 41% of artists suffer from chronic pain
- 31% said that arthritis or joint pain affect the amount and type of work that they do
- 64% of artists report that they have injured themselves in the studio
- A majority spend at least 50% of their time sitting while making their art
- 62% perform physically challenging or laborious activities to make their art
- 24% have been injured while lifting a heavy object in relation to their studio practice
- 52% experience lower back pain
- 50% experience neck pain
- 41% experience wrist pain.
CERF+ is a national nonprofit organization serving artists in craft disciplines, providing programs and resources to support strong and sustainable careers. “When I read about the mission of Wellness for Makers, I knew that a partnership would benefit thousands of artists,” says Jenifer Simon, Director of Programs and Outreach.
Wellness for Makers was founded by Graff Ballone in 2015. Its mission is to motivate and empower artists through education and mindful living and was created to make self-care, stretching, and massage techniques more accessible to artists everywhere.
The videos can be found at www.cerfplus.org and www.wellnessformakers.com. The project was made possible with grants from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and Windgate Charitable Foundation.
About CERF+
CERF+ is the Artists’ Safety Net. Since 1985, our service network of fellow artists, art show producers and donors has pooled knowledge and funds to strengthen artist careers, protect work and spaces, and face a safe future together.
We work in two connected areas: Readiness resources safeguard and sustain professional artist careers, artwork and workspaces. Relief resources help artists get back on their feet after disasters – with emergency funds available for artists working in craft disciplines.
We believe art is America’s commonwealth – and artists are its most precious asset. Artists reflect our deepest emotions and make the imagined into reality. Their work and their stories can make life better and inspire us all. Artists don’t always have a safety net for emergencies. That’s why we exist. We envision a future where all professional artists thrive and are as well protected as the treasures they create.
About Wellness for Makers
The mission of Wellness for Makers is to motivate and empower artists through education and mindful living. Wellness for Makers was created to make self-care, stretching, and massage techniques more accessible to artists everywhere. We strive to make it easy to find good resources, including interviews, articles, videos, and links to valuable organizations. Our workshops provide hands-on training in stretching and massage techniques that are easy to incorporate into an artist’s daily studio routine. These techniques are designed to help boost energy levels, alleviate pain, reduce the risk of injury, and improve posture. We collaborate with artists who have professional backgrounds in yoga, ergonomics, massage therapy, occupational therapy, and more, to provide a range of perspectives. We believe that by working together as a community, we can create more productive and sustainable studio practices that improve the longevity of our hands and bodies.