Try attending the Lucy Daniels Foundation annual Art and Psychoanalysis lectures.

This year the lectures will focus on how creative, artistic outlets can affect chronic illnesses, such as cancer. Esther Dreifuss-Kattan, an internationally renowned art therapist, will be the featured speaker.

Los Angeles-based Dreifuss-Kattan specializes on the work of Paul Klee, a Swiss artist who suffered from scleroderma, a chronic condition in which the skin shrinks and cripples the victim.

A fellow Swiss, Dreifuss-Kattan has been fascinated by Klee’s work since childhood, especially the three-year span during his illness when his drawings seemed to be a therapeutic reflection on his mental and physical changes.

Dreifuss-Kattan will also speak on her art therapy work with cancer patients.

“Cancer is a very overwhelming experience,” she said.

Art — Dreifuss-Kattan works mainly with painting and drawing — helps people reach a subconscious level of what they are feeling.

Dreifuss-Kattan’s work keeps her in close proximity to death, but she finds it joyful, both in the compassion and zest for life it teaches her.

She hopes to convey those feelings in her speeches.

“I don’t want people to go out totally depressed,” she said.

This is the 16th year Lucy Daniels has offered the art-based lectures, said Pat Hunnell, who does public relations for Lucy Daniels. The N.C. Museum of Art aids putting on the lectures, helping keep them free.

The lectures this year are as follows: “Creativity and Self Repair: Art Psychotherapy with Cancer Patients,” Saturday, Feb. 9, at 3 p.m., Lucy Daniels Foundation, 9001 Weston Parkway.

“Paul Klee: In the Shadow of Death,” Sunday, Feb. 10, 2:30 p.m., N.C. Museum of Art, 2110 Blue Ridge Road. For information on the organization or how you can attend this year’s lectures, visit ldf.org.