Viewpoint by Infant Psychiatrist, Ibone Olza, MD

Having been invited by Arno Stern to his workshop in Paris
Ibone Olza had the following to say:
“When I left, I was deeply moved, feeling gratitude and hope...
I listened with my whole being, trying to not let my emotions –
or my surprise at this bright, vital 95-year-old man who was
before me – distract me.
I almost did it. On several occasions I felt tears rolling down
my cheeks. His words had a profound impact, my whole body
knew what he was saying was true. His discovery hides a deep
truth: children, when they are free to paint without being
judged nor observed, when their paint brushes on white paper
are not bothered by corrections or by questions – what are
you painting? – when there is no outside purpose nor
evaluation, nor use, when these conditions are met like Arno
has been doing for seventy years with thousands of people…
then something emerges that is neither art nor
communication, but something intimate and, at the same time,
universal. When they sketch with freedom and confidence, a
similar process takes places in them all, which Arno has
observed and studied almost all his life: what he calls
Formulation, which according to him, has to do with organic
memory: formulation reflects the evolution of the organism:
the fetus is absolutely centered in its formation and
development…His or her origin is the organic memory, that is
the archive that is within the organism where development is
programmed.
The formulation game is a constant oscillation between an
intentional process and a spontaneous manifestation that
wells from deeper parts of the organism. For me, his work is of
immense importance, and its applied use far beyond
facilitating infant play. Arno is a genius in many ways, but what
most strikes me is his loving look at childhood. How he was
able to create a non-judgmental space where children could
paint. He observed them with absolute respect, and as years
went by, he discovered a common pattern in all those
drawings, which were “neither art nor childish”. He began
studying that phenomenon that was taking place in his
workshop:
The essential is never manifested in a fortuitous way, but only
after great insistence. It is so simple and yet so uncommon.
When the conditions are met, shut-down capacities are
awakened in every person, without exception.” His lesson is
authentic, it recognizes the importance of desire, of awakening
spontaneity, that treasure that reaches its peak of expression
when children paint or play. This opens our eyes to the drama
of how much is repressed in children when they are asked to
paint a certain way, or when they are made to color set images
or they are corrected so they “paint better”... So, ultimately,
this means inevitably criticizing the prevailing model: “You
have been told that the best one wins, and that you must wish
to be the best one. In this race for first place, you have
unlearned serenity. You are so dependent on those who judge
you that you cannot imagine an act that has no quantifiable
results.” “You confuse effort with bother. Since they have made
a consumer out of you, you believe you must innovate, change,
experiment, always different experiments... Being competitive,
let’s be clear, is supplanting others. This means giving yourself
the means to take other’s place.... If you are a meek student
you will become a dependent adult, desiring what they
propose to you, accepting it like a boon, like a good grade
given to the good student.” (A. Stern)
It has taken me days to understand why I cried, barely being
conscious of it, when Arno Stern spoke to me, why tears fell
silently and almost imperceptibly down my face. First I
thought I had cried for all those children whom, as an infant
psychiatrist, I had asked to show me their families or their
homes, for all the times I had asked them what they meant; for
my children, whose drawings I keep as treasures, for all those
children whose genuine expression we daily restrict (out of
ignorance, Stern insists). And even though all these reasons
hold, I believe there was another. And it is that Arno’s
discovery – respecting our deepest desires and facilitating
their creative potency – spreads to many fields, like childbirth
support, for example. Research, when not hand in hand or
preceded by that loving, non-judgmental gaze, can be untrue
and even harmful. And that loving, caring, non-judgmental
gaze... It is so difficult for us to maintain that whenever we
perceive it upon us, it moves us.