Art becomes therapy for senior

The first thing Joe Masek drew obsessively was the Mötley Crüe logo. He was 12 at the time, living in Cleveland, and had just been dropped off at the runaway shelter by his parents.

Now 34 and a senior majoring in pre-art therapy through the Individualized Major Program, Masek has produced a body of work that has progressed quite a ways from simple drawings of rock ’n’ roll symbols. His favorite symbol now is the chaos star. But the thing that hasn’t changed is his belief that art can be much more than just art, and that’s where art therapy comes in.

“It’s self-reflection,” Masek said. “You create something, you’re making it, then you finish, and you’re just blown away by the emotion behind it.”

Masek is majoring in pre-art therapy because a master’s degree in art therapy is required to be able to practice professionally.

Masek said art therapy takes a different route from more traditional therapy because dialogue isn’t the main form of expression and means to understanding.

Masek said his path to understanding took awhile.

“My biological family couldn’t take care of me,” Masek said. “I was an orphan kid, a street kid. I bounced around group homes and stuff for a long time.”

Alcohol and drugs were huge obstacles for Maske, but he said he’s clean now. And after struggling through a few messy relationships, resolving conflicts with his family and figuring out how he feels about religion, Masek decided six years ago that he wanted to be able to help foster kids like himself. So he went to college.

He credits Sallie Culbreth, the founder of an organization based in Hot Springs, Ark., called Committed to Freedom Ministries, with helping him straighten out his life and setting him on a mission.

“It wasn’t a straight shot, and I messed up a lot,” Masek said about his college years. “It was scary as hell. I never really went to any one school ever in my life, and academically, it was very intimidating.”

For his degree in art therapy, he’s taken courses in art, psychology and religion, which is a theme in his artwork. Formal art training at IU was an adjustment for Masek.

“I fought it,” Masek said. “I even threw a radio at Todd Frahm (a lecturer in the sculpture department), but we’re cool now.”

Frahm admitted that it took him a couple of years to get a handle on Masek’s personality and his way of working.

“He was very resistant to any sense of academia,” Frahm said. “He worked so intuitively, which is good, but he struggled to take a step back and look at things conceptually. He’s gone from being this chaotic, abrasive, crappy welder to someone who’s got a very sensitive eye on his work. A lot of people are artistic and lazy, and he’s not. He’s very driven.”

Much of Masek’s art is sculpture. He works with bronze cast, steel, limestone, oil paints and wood. He said his favorite is steel.

“I’m a cheese ball,” Masek said. “I really love metal and heavy metal together.”

This heavy metal affection filters into Masek’s steel guitar sculptures. The movement in the steel lines of the guitars is as close to musical rhythm as art can get.

Heavy metal music is a passion, but so is Prada. “Prada Needle Jesus” is a sort of altar that spells out Prada in graphic letters and has many injection needles spiking out of the top.

“It means that God loves everybody on both sides of Sample Gates,” Masek said. “God loves everyone, whether you’re a rich white kid or a dirty street kid or if you’re a schizophrenic.”

Religious icons pop up in Masek’s work everywhere. His sculpture “Magdalene’s Addiction,” a limestone relief, depicts Magdalene framed with a crown of injection needles around her head. Masek said Magdalene did sin, but she loved much too, and her sins were forgiven because of that.

In the steel sculpture “Lucifer’s Redemption,” he said he wanted to convey the idea of redemption through suffering.

Sophomore Caitlin Taylor met Masek about a year ago and has become one of his close friends.

“I think his artwork is really wonderful,” Taylor said. “Most of his artwork has a very obvious story behind it. There’s a very obvious emotion there. I love that he uses such bright colors, and he always uses up all of the negative space.”

Friday and Saturday at The Lodge, Masek put on his senior show “Candy Coated Chaos.” About a month ago, he decided to turn his show into a three-way exhibit, silent auction and benefit concert for two different organizations that provide support for abuse survivors.

Since Masek moved here 13 years ago when he was 21, he’s become a part of Bloomington’s local artist community. The two-day show featured pieces from local artists as well as IU students and faculty.

“He’s a very thoughtful, sensitive person,” Frahm said. “He’s had a really difficult life. It’s great to see him give back to the community that saw him through a lot of hard times.”

Taylor said she was surprised that he could organize such a huge event so well without any past experience.

“Just watching all the things that he’s capable of,” Taylor said. “He organized everything. He got all the artwork, he got all the sponsors, he got the space,” Taylor said. “He really busted his ass.”

The inspiration for the show’s theme comes from Masek’s love for the chaos star. It’s tattooed on his right arm, and he wears a necklace he made with the chaos symbol as the pendant.

“I’ve always been drawn to that icon,” Masek said. “Life seems chaotic, but it always falls into place.”

When he finishes graduate school, Masek plans to work with foster kids. He wants to open an art therapy facility designed especially to help kids who have gone through the same things he did.

“It’s not a dream,” Masek said. “I’m going to do it.”