Mentoring and other challenges in art-based enquiry: You will figure it out

Abstract

This article traces an art therapy practitioner/educator’s history with art therapy research and recounts significant influences that helped the author develop a clear sense of the importance of art-based modes of enquiry. Particular attention is given to the scepticism in the professional art therapy community regarding arts-based methodologies and the pivotal role of mentorship in overcoming such reservations. A plea is made for integrating arts practices into the ways researchers initiate questions, gather and analyse data, and articulate findings. The author calls on art therapy researchers to bring their artistic sensibilities to every question and problem, and to use those sensibilities in every presentation and scholarly production.