this work throughout the essay. Artists often borrow from psychoanalysis; just as psychoanalysts themselves frequently turn their attention to the arts in order to explore the human condition. There is a natural affinity and cross fertilization between the two disciplines and it is from this fertile area of overlap that art therapy has developed. In order to argue for increased provision of art therapy there is a need to clarify what precisely it involves, and what it is that is beneficial and is specific, as opposed to those elements which it shares with language-based psychotherapy (Arnheim 1986). I have divided the article into headed sections, but, in the process of writing, I have become aware of the interesting difficulty that emerges, that each element seems to overlap with at least several others and I have the sense that the order in which I have approached these is almost arbitrary, as if by throwing them into the air, like a bunch of sticks, they would land in a pattern that would reveal another and equally important perspective. It seems likely that this is related to the nature of drawing itself. My method is eclectic and, by looking at the ideas of artists, art historians, psychoanalysts, philosophers and art therapists, I aim to gain new insight into this important subject.
Finding a definition of drawing
It seems that, from the vantage point of the early twenty first century, it may no longer be possible to find a straightforward definition of drawing. By its very nature it has an affinity with the spirit of postmodern consciousness and although it has traditionally been regarded as a means to an end (Gombrich 1998) it has, throughout recent decades, come to hold more weight as an art form in its own right and to have become instrumental in generating new experience and meaning. The Centre for Drawing at Wimbledon School of Art was established in October 2000 in recognition of the new significance of drawing as an experimental medium. The Centre hosts three residencies a year. Each participating artist is required to make a commitment to critical enquiry and to share their practice through interviews and in a final exhibition at the end of the residency. In the preface to the 2003 catalogue, produced by the Centre, Michael Ginsborg makes it clear that drawing has undergone significant changes: