‘You drew my tears’: attunement in making response art alongside the client

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: During lockdown, I began exploring the use of response art while working with individual adult clients in private practice online. At times, the contributions it made to the therapy seemed significant and too pivotal to ignore. Context: Adult clients in private art therapy practice in the UK. Approach: An overview of the present discourse on response art is provided, followed by an exploration of related theories including Stern’s ‘attunement’, Winnicott’s ‘holding’ and Bion’s ‘container-contained’. An outline of how response art is integrated into a session is presented and illustrated with three vignettes. Outcomes: Response art was useful for the clients included in this paper when frozen emotionally or struggling to find words. It helped with restarting art making, trusting the therapist, reframing experiences, and encouraging emotional processing. Conclusions: Attunement was key in the decision-making and implementation of a creative response. The therapist’s vulnerability in exposing their creative and mental processes appeared to be a valuable model for the client. The sounds (or silences) and gestures made during the making of the response art also appeared to be significant for the clients. Implications for research: Further research into benefits, risks and influencing factors when using response art would be instructive.