I recently stopped drink alcohol because of health reasons and as of this writing I haven’t had a tiki drink in over four months and counting! I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about the drinking I have done over the course of my life and even thou I never plan on drinking again, I have and always will have a relationship with alcohol. It was mostly good until it wasn’t. Unless you never started drinking, you also have a relationship with alcohol and hopefully that relationship is a good one.
The Libations Arts for Brain Health Coloring Book was created for this reason. It’s a coloring book that makes you think about your relationship with alcohol. Eric Spruth is an art therapist and he is going to tell you about this therapeutic coloring book…
What’s the tiki scene like where you live?
Eric- Growing up it was constant and magical. My grandfather and my grandmother turned a suburban backyard in their home into a tiki oasis which I believed was completely normal and the way to be but as I grew older and realized the harshness of the world, I understood they had created a paradise appropriating cultural styles religious artifacts in a way of being that was completely nurturing loving and powerful. Over the decades my pursuit of tiki has never stopped, currently in the Midwest we have a sprinkling of commercially available tiki. We have the echoing effects of decades and decades of individuals who celebrated this lifestyle finding their way in sporadic intervals into our resale shops and antique parlors.
What brought you into the ‘Tiki lifestyle’?
Eric- Without exception my thirst for the tiki lifestyle came from my grandmother and grandfather: Dr. Henry Charles Kopeika and his amazing wife my grandmother the purple goddess Josephine Kopika. They had parties, if people sneeze too hard there was always an after party back at their house no matter where we seem to be and everybody would come. I remember falling asleep as a child and waking up and the party was still going on! When my grandfather passed, there was just sprinklings of the old tiki mugs and my grandmother asked me if I would like to have one. I asked, may I have them all? She smiled and said yes, you sure can along with the ukulele and it was the foundation of my own collection.
With her passing and the house being closed, even more came my way. Fueling my lunch time adventures from the Cook County Jail where I functioned as an art therapist for over thirty years, taking my lunch break and prowling the same resale shops in a five-mile radius, building a tiki Oasis of my very own, now almost completed. The Kopeika Tiki Lounge is not a place that celebrates alcohol, it’s a place that celebrates the art of libations sharing company stories, adventures, games and family time quality time with friends.
How long has it been part of your life?
Eric- I was born in Frankfurt Germany in 1965 in a United States Air Force Military Hospital. I came to the United States when I was two years old reporting directly to my Grandma and Grandpa’s house. I remember being given a plastic golf set. First thing that happened, my grandpa and I played golf in the front yard and I remember it like it was yesterday. The second thing, I went into their amazing, purple shag and purple mirrored walled amazing home. It always smelled of incense, particularly I learned later, frankincense and myrrh. A truly most magical place!
What is The Arts for Brain Health Coalition?
Eric- In the course of my thirty-eight-year career as an art therapist, I have had the great honor of being of service to many special needs populations including but not limited to services here and around the world.
Tinley Park Mental Health Center Garden Center for the Handicap, Cook County Jail, Cook County temporary Detention Center, Illinois Department of Corrections youth division, the Cook County victim Witness Program, the Cook County Department of women Justice Services, female furlough division, open heart Magic performing magic and hospitals for children in isolation and my very own tattoo art therapy providing free tattoo removal and tattoo transformation as a professional tattoo artist providing exclusively free services to those with demonstrative marks, the arts for brain heart health Coalition came out of 20 plus years volunteering at the Art Institute of Chicago within the art insights program and initiative by the Rosenthal family to bring art to those who could not access to museum initially they’re thinking was those in nursing homes with some negotiations that extended they’re offerings to those who are incarcerated suffering severe mental illness the relationship Spirit a lot of different extended points of service including those with brain injury or brain challenges like dementia and Alzheimer’s disease partnering with them providing my art therapy Libations adult coloring book was a perfect match helping to motivate activity originality and provoke memories of amazing times it’s funny a photograph of people standing there smiling together might mean something to those who look at it who are in the picture or know those people in the picture or can associate with those people in the picture but when a photograph for a work of art simply portrays a libation it’s a lot easier for people to project or in this case recall similar situations of their own.
What was the inspiration for The Libations Coloring Book?
Eric- Over the years I’ve had multiple shows starting out with a show called the Beverage Exhibition at Swim Cafe in Eckert Park of Chicago. It was a really exciting exhibition for me to share, there were photographs of Libations from around the world during my travels from my 20s and 30s celebrating not the people that were there but the story that went with then and around the libation I thought that was done with the show until I got the idea of making an adult coloring book. The artfulness of sharing space with others is always been a general topic but the ceremonial hard historically qualified truths about the art of Libations in many cultures around the world, really all cultures around the world along with breaking bread is undeniable and a very important part of our world that we live in. Eating and drinking as a pack, watching out for each other, the confusion of Libations and or the ceremonial purposes of libations being popularized with the inclusion of alcohol are false on so many levels.
Tell us more about The Color Book?
Eric- The Libations coloring book along with a variety of other unique creative projects I’ve engaged with is something I remain very proud of. We literally given away thousands of copies to people all around the world with our free link. I have colored and recolored multiple drawings and found new meaning and relevance. I think that the forward written by Dr. Fox that I sent you Ray would be a very helpful item to reflect on the unique aspect of adult coloring along with those who made the paint by number sets of the 50s and 60s. These are individuals that were genius, they turned individuals that were struggling to engage creativity and allow them to give a reasonable foundation to engage a brush to engage a coloring pen in this case and to build from there if desired if not to celebrate the calming and therapeutic effects of just coloring in or out of the line, I’m a fan of both.
Anything else you would like to add?
Eric- As Colombo would say “just one more thing…”
Thank you for asking. I’ve included some examples of work that I’ve created emulating the style of paint by numbers these are my very own tiki mugs I’ve collected over the years including some from my grandfather and grandmother’s collection. I photographed them and then I make a Xerox to the photograph a matrix of a sort and glue it to board and then I paint them with tempera and egg wash color to emulate the style of paint by numbers. I love paint by number paintings and I love what they represent, again an opportunity for Americans and people around the whole world to from that time with a couple fellas wanted to sell more paint and it came up with something that was the foundation of amazing art created by regular people turning their gaze and attention and time away from the TV set the radio being isolated.
Thank you for this opportunity Ray! I think so much of you historically and now you’re straight Tiki means so much to me in so many other people. Keep up the great work! I would love to have you come visit our tiki lounge someday here in the Midwest along the shores of Lake Michigan, we call it the Third Coast for all you California and East Coast people one of my favorite rituals is looking at all the tiki sites on social media every morning it brings me great peace along with the dawn and the excitement of service to others in the day to come coming to you from our very own Horticulture Therapy Program here at the jail much love, Eric Dean Spruth
Get the coloring book here