“Imagine Me Beyond What You See” Announces 2012 Winners of International Body Image Art Competition

Natural Beauty Takes First Place with “She is a Tree of Life”

PEKIN, ILL. (May 3, 2012) - The International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals Foundation (iaedp) is proud to announce the winners of Imagine Me Beyond What You See, the second annual body image mannequin art competition that encourages eating disorder treatment centers, art therapists, clients and the general public to reflect on the perception of beauty and design mannequins within the theme of seeing beyond the physical image. Selected from 12 submissions, this year’s entries impressed and inspired a distinguished panel including eating disorder professionals, art therapists, an American Art Therapy Association representative and professional artist Fritz Liedtke.

The first place entry, “She is a Tree of Life,” was created by Sara Burchfiel , a former client of Shoreline Center for Eating Disorder Treatment in Long Beach, Calif. Burchfiel’s entry also received the iaedp Professional’s Choice award, voted on by attendee’s during the March’s Symposium 2012 in Charleston, S.C.

“My vision for this project was to transform a mannequin into a tree. The natural world has always been a source of grounding and healing for me. At one point during my treatment, my therapist compared trees to women - we look at trees and see only beauty,” said winner Sara Burchfiel. “We don't criticize broken branches, seared trunks and brown leaves. We don't compare or call one ugly because it looks different than the next. No, we see their magnificence. So, why do we look at ourselves so differently?”

First runner-up honors were awarded to Denver’s Eating Recovery Center Partial Hospitalization for its entry, “Mariposa.” Dr. Susan J. Mendelsohn’s Eating Disorder Therapy Groups from Cincinnati received the Honorable Mention for “Shattered.”

“The iaedp Foundation is truly moved by all of the incredible entries received for this year’s Imagine Me competition,” said Blanche Williams, iaedp assistant managing director and art competition coordinator. “Ms. Burchfiel’s winning entry was especially provocative and spellbinding, really capturing the spirit of the competition’s message to see beyond the physical image of beauty.”

To read more about this year's entries online, visit www.iaedp.com and look for the multicolored mannequin.

About iaedp:
Since 1985, the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals Foundation has provided education and training standards to an international and multidisciplinary group of various healthcare treatment providers and helping professions. Visit www.facebook.com/iaedpfoundation and www.twitter.com/iaedp for more information.

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This release was published on openPR.