The extent of engagement in art making and exhibition by art therapy practitioners and students

Abstract

This paper seeks to delineate how art therapists define their professional identity, as well as the extent and way that their artist identities are implemented. Participants included art therapy practitioners (N=59) and art therapy students (N=181). They participated in a survey, which had been developed to investigate their views on the identity, approaches, necessity of art work, work contents, and exhibitions. The results of the survey are as follows: (a) Respondents said that the role of art therapists is most similar to that of psychotherapists, but they also acknowledge the importance of the artist’s identity. (b) There was a slight preference for “art psychotherapy” over “art as therapy.” (c) Art therapists who continued to create artwork and host art exhibitions were valued highly. (d) The materials used for the artists’ personal art projects had much in common with the materials commonly used for art therapy sessions. (e) Among the various reasons for art therapists’ inactivity regarding exhibitions, the most common answer was that their art works were not optimized for exhibiting. (f) Respondents preferred group exhibitions as their exhibition method, followed by virtual exhibition. These results lend weight to the view that art therapists have an artistic identity in their heart, but it might be considered secondary.