[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-592220-105":59,"doc-detail-592220-en":129},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":122,"head_meta":124,"extra_data":126,"updated_unix":128},105,"en","casting-the-spirit-a-handmade-legacy","Casting the Spirit - A Handmade Legacy","","The article examines how an art therapist in a hospital palliative care unit incorporated a hand-casting ritual to support closure for dying patients and grieving family members. Finished hand sculptures faithfully reflect patients’ hands and, sometimes, loved ones’ hands, creating meaningful legacies as death approaches. The paper reviews historical uses of human-body representation across media and provides three case examples showing how hand castings address grief and loss in end-of-life care.",{"@graph":69,"@context":121},[70,84,104],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":35,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/healthcare/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/casting-the-spirit-a-handmade-legacy/592220/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":98,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":99,"interactionStatistic":100},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/casting-the-spirit-a-handmade-legacy/592220.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Grenda","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":101,"interactionType":102,"userInteractionCount":4},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":103},"ViewAction",{"@type":105,"mainEntity":106},"FAQPage",[107,113,117],{"name":108,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":110},"What purpose does hand casting serve in palliative care according to the article?","Question",{"text":111,"@type":112},"Hand casting helps patients and family members cope with emotional grief and the transitions connected with terminal illness, while supporting closure as death approaches.","Answer",{"name":114,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":115},"How does the article connect historical practices to modern hand casting?",{"text":116,"@type":112},"It traces earlier Western practices of life masks and death masks used to preserve appearance and meaning, then contrasts them with contemporary artists’ “life casts.”",{"name":118,"@type":109,"acceptedAnswer":119},"What types of examples does the article include?",{"text":120,"@type":112},"The article presents three case examples illustrating how art therapists use hand castings to address grief and loss in palliative care settings.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":123,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":125,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":127,"site_id":62},592220,1792074113,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":130},{"doc_id":127,"user_id":131,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":132,"doc_module":4,"category_id":34,"category_name":35,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":4,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":34,"language":138,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":139,"faqs":140,"seo_title":141,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":128,"read_time":142},7971474921005,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","A rticles  \nCasting the Spirit: A Handmade Legacy  \nMona Rutenberg, Montreal, Quebec, Canada  \nAbstract  \nThis article discusses how an art therapist working in a hospital palliative care unit has incorporated a ritual of hand casting to help bring closure to dying patients andfamily members who are grieving as death approaches. The finished hand sculptures depict the hands of the patients and, sometimes, of their loved ones. They are faithful and powerful representations that help dying patients and leave meaningful legacies for their family members. This paper reviews the historical perspective of how artists have used various media to represent the human body, both living and dead, and presents three case examples that illustrate art therapists’ use of hand castings to address issues of grief and loss in palliative care.  \nIntroduction  \nI have worked for 19 years as an art therapist in an acute care hospital. In recent years, I developed a practice of hand casting as an art therapy intervention that has had a profound effect for patients and their families. I introduced hand casting originally to geriatric patients, but I have since incorporated the technique in my work with palliative care. Using the hand casting technique helps many people—both patients and their families—cope with the emotional grief and transitions that are set in motion when facing a terminal illness. In this article, I describe how this unique intervention has allowed me to draw on my skills as a sculptor while developing my expertise as an art therapist.  \nLife Masks , Death Masks , and Life Casts  \nCasting parts of the human body has a long history in western culture. Face casting was first developed by the ancient Greeks and later revived in 14th century Europe when death masks were created to immortalize famous men and women. As Willa Shalit, an artist from New Mexico, wrote of these death masks:  \nEditor’s note: Mona Rutenberg, MA, ATR-ATPQ, earned her MA in Art Therapy from Vermont College of Norwich University and has been practicing for 19 years at the Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Quebec, working with inpatients in geriatrics, palliative care and high-risk pregnancy. Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to the author at [monarutenberg@yahoo.ca](monarutenberg@yahoo.ca)  \nApparently, the mask maker was called to the deathbed several minutes after the individual had died, after the moment of the spirit’s departure, the last physical form of the subject’s existence on earth. (1992, p. 87)  \nPrior to the invention of photography in the mid 18th century, some people had “life masks,” which are castingsof their faces created to capture details of their features. Death masks were also made to retain a record of an individual’s features, or to use as a model for creating a statue or a bust (Meschutt, Taff, & Boglioli, 1992, p. 315) . Meschutt et al. reported that death masks were less than faithful replicas. As C.H. Hart wrote in 1899, life masks were meant to preserve “the spirit and expression” and “the exact similitude of every feature,” but with death masks,“these evanescent qualities are then gone” (as cited in Meschutt et al., 1992, p. 315) .  \nCastings of faces, made before the features of the deceased person hardened, were popular in 19th century England. They served as mementos of loved ones and maintained continuity with the past. Mourning rituals, both in the final days of life and following a person’s death, were central to the grieving process in middle and upperclass Victorian families during this period (Jalland, 1996, p. 289) .  \nHilliker (2006) examined the social practices of postmortem photography (photographs that portray death) from the 19th century to present. She described how rituals of taking, preparing, and looking at photos of the deceased have therapeutic value and may help mourners lessen grief and acknowledge the reality of death. Simpson observed that postmortem photographs “serve as an attempt t","cbCaivay1WRZHFS1","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaivay1WRZHFS1","pdf",333583,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n# Life Masks, Death Masks, and Life Casts","[{\"question\":\"What purpose does hand casting serve in palliative care according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"Hand casting helps patients and family members cope with emotional grief and the transitions connected with terminal illness, while supporting closure as death approaches.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the article connect historical practices to modern hand casting?\",\"answer\":\"It traces earlier Western practices of life masks and death masks used to preserve appearance and meaning, then contrasts them with contemporary artists’ “life casts.”\"},{\"question\":\"What types of examples does the article include?\",\"answer\":\"The article presents three case examples illustrating how art therapists use hand castings to address grief and loss in palliative care settings.\"}]","Casting the Spirit - A Handmade Legacy | PDF",18]