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What is called the imagination (from image, magi, magic, magician, etc.) is a practical vector from the soul. It stores all data, and can be called on to solve all our “problems.” The imagination is the projection of ourselves past our sense of ourselves as “things.” Imagination (image) is all possibility, because from the image, the initial circumscribed energy, any use (idea) is possible. And so begins that image’s use in the world. Possibility is what moves us.
—Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Theatre”, Liberator, July 1965
Leah Gipson
Leah Gipson is an Assistant Professor in the art therapy department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She is a licensed clinical professional counselor, a registered and board certified art therapist, and has a master’s degree in theological studies. Her current research interests include womanism, black feminism, black church, and the use of cultural spaces to explore the politics of individual and social change. Gipson is a board member for A Long Walk Home, Inc., an organization that uses the arts to empower young people and end violence against women and girls, and a member of the Critical Pedagogy in the Arts Therapies Think Tank. Her recent and past projects include: DIVISIVE, a radio show that explores the intersections and interactivity between politics and cultural work, The Rectory, a neighborhood arts incubator space in Chicago; and Care Sessions, a partnership through the SAIC at Homan Square.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Professor