VOLUME 2 |NUMBER 1 |2011 21 20
Visual Art:
R
ebbe Fortune, whose childhood was
spent in a legalistic church, eventually made
her way as an adult to Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center. There, her treatment assist-
ed her recovery process from the mind con-
trol she had experienced, and enabled her to
realize her childhood dream of creating visual
artwork.
“The art I create is an expression of my recov-
ery process…. Each piece flows out of my
healing journey. As shame, guilt, anger, and
sadness, among other emotions, rise to the
surface, the creative process brings restoration.
The loose flowing lines present in most of the
pastel drawings allow me the freedom to
move away from the perfectionism demanded
of me as a child.”
Rebbe said that she works intentionally in pas-
tel, watercolor, and collage. She avoids “rigid,
harsh lines”so that she is better able to, “create
from the soul.”
It was at Wellspring that Rebbe realized that
she was free to respond to life from her soul.
Said she, “I had not known that I had an identi-
ty apart from my family and church….
When I left, I began to understand the impor-
tance of discovering my personal identity.”
Seeing that she had been very fragmented
by her experience, and intrigued by the “inte-
gration of mind, body, and spirit,” Rebbe saw
that the world outside the “small, rigid box I
was living in” was safer than she’d been
taught. Hungry to explore life beyond the
confines of her upbringing, she began to
reach beyond, and attended workshops at a
local women’s center.
Awarded an educational scholarship, Rebbe
began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Expres-
sive Art Education, with the goal of develop-
ing a curriculum of expressive art processes to
assist women in healing from the effects of a
mind-control group or relationship. She plans
to facilitate support groups, “Designed to help
women recover personal identity, experience
connection of mind, body, and spirit, and inte-
grate into mainstream society.”
Each piece included in ICSA Today tells the
story of Rebbe’s journey toward freedom, and
away from mind-control. ■
Rebbe Fortune
Out of the Box Above: Exterior Below: Interior
Dancing Out of What
They Did Not Know
Unfurled
A Woman’s Infant Anger
Psalm 139 :The Desire of My Heart
Out of the Box:
This collaged cigar box depicts my
experience at Wellspring, and my
journey out of legalism.
Learning, there, that I was free to
enjoy friendships with those who
did not share my spiritual beliefs, I
began to participate in a creative
support group at a local women’s
center. There, I made powerful con-
nections with others, as we col-
laged boxes depicting our stories.
The “W” on the box, for Wellspring,
is made of faux snakeskin. A pow-
erful image for me, its incorpora-
tion into this artwork was deeply
healing, as I often felt that the evil
wrapped around me had kept me
from freedom. As I began to see
God as loving I was able to turn
something terrifying and ugly into
something beautiful and free.
This sits in my studio reminding
me of the freedom I have to live,
and create, in God’s love.
Unfurled:
This is the first piece of art I created from
my soul I was 45. The swirl of color
around me symbolizes the raw ques-
tions I asked God. “Why would you cre-
ate me to dance and draw from my soul
and then put me in a family and a
church that did not allow this?" "Why, if
you are a God who created drawing and
dance, would you put me in a place
where they told me these things were
not from you?” Freedom to ask these
questions allowed me to experience
God as a Father who adored me and
hungered for my questions just as much
as I hungered to ask them. The more
questions I asked, the more the snake
that bound me was loosened.
Psalm 139: The Desire of My Heart:
This depicts my questioning God about
the lies I’d been told about Him, along
with my sense that He created me to
be a creative being.
Dancing Out of What They Did Not
Know:
The result of mind-control is often
unspoken confusion and pain. There is
a desire for freedom, although the vic-
tim of spiritual abuse may not know
what she longs to be freed from. This
depicts women exiting mind-control
relationships, and helping each other
along the journey. Dancing their way
free from the bondage of legalism, they
hope for freedom from bondage, and
from confusion about God, for the fol-
lowing generations.
A Woman's Infant Anger:
The woman here sees her infant self,
her anger, and her desire to free the
child within. Painful arrows of legalism
are the impetus for her freedom fight.
Drawing this was healing, illustrating
the power of the expressive arts in
soothing and restoring the mind-body-
spirit connection.
ICSA TODAY
ICSA_volume3_proof6 5/10/11 12:14 PM Page 22
Visual Art:
R
ebbe Fortune, whose childhood was
spent in a legalistic church, eventually made
her way as an adult to Wellspring Retreat and
Resource Center. There, her treatment assist-
ed her recovery process from the mind con-
trol she had experienced, and enabled her to
realize her childhood dream of creating visual
artwork.
“The art I create is an expression of my recov-
ery process…. Each piece flows out of my
healing journey. As shame, guilt, anger, and
sadness, among other emotions, rise to the
surface, the creative process brings restoration.
The loose flowing lines present in most of the
pastel drawings allow me the freedom to
move away from the perfectionism demanded
of me as a child.”
Rebbe said that she works intentionally in pas-
tel, watercolor, and collage. She avoids “rigid,
harsh lines”so that she is better able to, “create
from the soul.”
It was at Wellspring that Rebbe realized that
she was free to respond to life from her soul.
Said she, “I had not known that I had an identi-
ty apart from my family and church….
When I left, I began to understand the impor-
tance of discovering my personal identity.”
Seeing that she had been very fragmented
by her experience, and intrigued by the “inte-
gration of mind, body, and spirit,” Rebbe saw
that the world outside the “small, rigid box I
was living in” was safer than she’d been
taught. Hungry to explore life beyond the
confines of her upbringing, she began to
reach beyond, and attended workshops at a
local women’s center.
Awarded an educational scholarship, Rebbe
began pursuing a Master’s Degree in Expres-
sive Art Education, with the goal of develop-
ing a curriculum of expressive art processes to
assist women in healing from the effects of a
mind-control group or relationship. She plans
to facilitate support groups, “Designed to help
women recover personal identity, experience
connection of mind, body, and spirit, and inte-
grate into mainstream society.”
Each piece included in ICSA Today tells the
story of Rebbe’s journey toward freedom, and
away from mind-control. ■
Rebbe Fortune
Out of the Box Above: Exterior Below: Interior
Dancing Out of What
They Did Not Know
Unfurled
A Woman’s Infant Anger
Psalm 139 :The Desire of My Heart
Out of the Box:
This collaged cigar box depicts my
experience at Wellspring, and my
journey out of legalism.
Learning, there, that I was free to
enjoy friendships with those who
did not share my spiritual beliefs, I
began to participate in a creative
support group at a local women’s
center. There, I made powerful con-
nections with others, as we col-
laged boxes depicting our stories.
The “W” on the box, for Wellspring,
is made of faux snakeskin. A pow-
erful image for me, its incorpora-
tion into this artwork was deeply
healing, as I often felt that the evil
wrapped around me had kept me
from freedom. As I began to see
God as loving I was able to turn
something terrifying and ugly into
something beautiful and free.
This sits in my studio reminding
me of the freedom I have to live,
and create, in God’s love.
Unfurled:
This is the first piece of art I created from
my soul I was 45. The swirl of color
around me symbolizes the raw ques-
tions I asked God. “Why would you cre-
ate me to dance and draw from my soul
and then put me in a family and a
church that did not allow this?" "Why, if
you are a God who created drawing and
dance, would you put me in a place
where they told me these things were
not from you?” Freedom to ask these
questions allowed me to experience
God as a Father who adored me and
hungered for my questions just as much
as I hungered to ask them. The more
questions I asked, the more the snake
that bound me was loosened.
Psalm 139: The Desire of My Heart:
This depicts my questioning God about
the lies I’d been told about Him, along
with my sense that He created me to
be a creative being.
Dancing Out of What They Did Not
Know:
The result of mind-control is often
unspoken confusion and pain. There is
a desire for freedom, although the vic-
tim of spiritual abuse may not know
what she longs to be freed from. This
depicts women exiting mind-control
relationships, and helping each other
along the journey. Dancing their way
free from the bondage of legalism, they
hope for freedom from bondage, and
from confusion about God, for the fol-
lowing generations.
A Woman's Infant Anger:
The woman here sees her infant self,
her anger, and her desire to free the
child within. Painful arrows of legalism
are the impetus for her freedom fight.
Drawing this was healing, illustrating
the power of the expressive arts in
soothing and restoring the mind-body-
spirit connection.
ICSA TODAY
ICSA_volume3_proof6 5/10/11 12:14 PM Page 22
