From therapy to art therapy: Seth Apter 

Seth’s ‘origin story’ is quite fascinating and unique:

“In a former life, I was a psychologist, and I worked for quite a number of years at one of the major hospitals in New York City. 

I was never interested in art as a kid. I didn’t take classes. It just was not something on my radar, although living in New York, I love and I used to go to galleries and museums. 

Then in 2001, 9/11 happened. I was working in a hospital at that point, and it had a huge impact on my life and the way I saw things. I realised that things can change on a dime and that it was time to explore avenues that I had been putting off. 

I started to do a lot of things that I hadn’t done. One was starting my own private practice. I also started to travel a lot more extensively. I spent some time first in Portland, Oregon, then in Seattle, Washington and then in Vancouver, Canada. 

When I went to Canada towards the end of one trip, I was walking down a street and saw an art gallery that had just struck me. I went into the gallery, and I was just completely gobsmacked by the art that was there. 

It was mixed media art, but it was different from what I had seen before. It was abstract. It was textural. It was encaustic and concrete and just so beautiful and very serene. So I asked the woman at the gallery if she could tell me about the artist. And it turns out that the woman at the gallery was not only the gallery owner but the artist herself—Patricia Larson. 

She was a very compelling person. We spent maybe about an hour together, and we just really connected. I bought a few small pieces, came home, and returned to life as usual. 

About three weeks later, I received a handmade postcard from Patricia in the mail. First of all, I was really touched that she would take the time to send me a postcard. I thought that was so sweet that I had to do something. I decided I needed to make a postcard and mail it back to her. I sent it, and I thought that was the end of the story. 

About a week or so later, she sent me something else in the mail. And it was this little abstract painting on a book page in watercolour. So I went into a shop and got a little kid’s watercolour kit, and I copied what she did, and I mailed it back to her. 

And wouldn’t you know it? A week later, she sent me this tiny little book. And this just went on for years. She was in Vancouver, and I was in New York, and we developed what I learned later was a ‘mail art’ relationship. 

This, to me, was an entree and an education into the art world. In the beginning, it was stressful and daunting, but after a while, it became so much fun. I couldn’t wait till she sent me something.

Life took me in a different direction than I would have expected. Patricia completely changed my life; she is still a very good friend.” 

From there, Seth transitioned to life as an artist. When it comes to his previous career as a psychologist, he believes art is definitely connected to the human state of being. 

“For so many people, art is therapy. People always talk about how art, creativity, and connection with other artists have saved them.  

For me, the way I create is to work in layers. People often say, “Why do you bother painting that first layer of blue when you know it’s going to be completely covered?” 

I always have a psychological answer; to me, my art reflects what we are as people. There are so many layers. There’s an outer surface, which would be the finished piece of art, or kind of what you see right here, but who we are as people and what our piece is, is based on history. It’s based on all the layers and things you don’t see. 

I’m the way I am because of things that have happened. So I feel that’s true when I create art using that first layer. You might not see it, but it develops what comes next.”

Seth was able to transition from being a full-time, private practice psychologist to being an artist living in New York. He has some advice for others about making this kind of change. 

“When I knew that I was going to do that, I knew I had to be smart about it. I said to myself, ‘You have to create multiple streams of income’. This is my advice to anybody who really wants to be a full-time artist; I would say don’t put your eggs in one basket.

I did a lot of different things, I wrote books, started to teach, sold my art, designed products, and stuff like that, and I have this creative community online. As a result, if any of those individual elements went south, I wouldn’t have to immediately worry that I would be on the street. 

When COVID hit, even though I like to teach in person, I jumped into online teaching, and my community responded.”

Seth’s final words for artists looking to create their masterpieces are the following:

“You’re always one layer away from magic. You don’t need to like it as you’re working. Then all of a sudden, you do that one thing, and it’s magical, and you have exactly what you want. 

To me, that’s truly a metaphor in life and for life. You know that we’re always so close, maybe to something better. And we can reach it. We have to keep going. We have to keep pushing. We have to keep moving forward. We can’t stop. We can be frustrated, but we must keep pushing, and it’s worth it. 

Because all of a sudden, there’s magic.”

About the artist

Seth is a mixed media artist, instructor, author and designer from New York City. My artwork has been exhibited in multiple exhibitions and found in numerous books and national magazines. 

He has published two books, The Pulse of Mixed Media and The Mixed-Media Artist, with North Light Media and multiple mixed-media workshop videos with Sketchbook Skool, StencilGirl Studio and North Light Media. 

An instructor at Pratt Institute in NYC, Seth’s live workshops has been held throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Europe. He designs product lines with Impression Obsession, StencilGirl Products, PaperArtsy, Emerald Creek, WOW and Aladine.