Art-making Activities Research Articles

Technology-Enhanced Art and Sustainable Discourse Practices

This study explored the potential of technology-enhanced art in fostering sustainable discourse practices and social connection in the digital age. As technology advances, new opportunities emerge to integrate digital tools into creative practices, particularly in the realm of art. By examining the intersection of art, technology, and discourse analysis through a sustainability lens, this research aims to uncover innovative approaches to promoting effective communication, civic engagement, collaboration, intercultural understanding, empathy, and resilience incorporating co-design processes, shared decision-making, or collaborative art-making activities. The study provides an overview of technology-enhanced art practices including social media, virtual reality, interactive installations, and digital storytelling tools, and their impact on discourse practices within diverse socio-cultural contexts. It investigates the role of digital platforms and creative processes in facilitating social connection through discourse. The research focuses on a thematic approach to technology-enhanced art interventions that promote sustainable discourse practices and social connection. Through a thematic and intervention-based approach, this research combines a review of current literature with case studies showcasing the successful implementation of technology-enhanced art interventions. So the current study argues that technology-enhanced art holds significant potential for fostering sustainable discourse practices and social connection in the digital age. By harnessing the power of digital tools and creative processes in an environmentally conscious manner, artists, educators, and practitioners can support social connections. This, in turn, contributes to personal, social, and environmental resilience in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Self-care for preservice and in-service art educators: A matter of survival in the profession

This article presents an overview of a case study that uses an arts-based research intervention to support the development of self-care strategies for preservice and in-service art teachers towards improved work-life balance. Three recommendations are provided: (1) the necessity for teachers to individualize practices of self-care; (2) creating communities of care to support the collective design and use of self-care practices and (3) defining boundaries that promote a healthier work-life balance. The author shares reflections on how these recommendations influenced her own pedagogy at the university level, preparing preservice art educators and sustaining the practices of in-service art educators. Assignment prompts, exemplars of self-care artist trading cards and juggling act visualization artmaking activities are presented as well as a discussion on how to model self-care practices for art educators.

The Efficacy of Artwork as a Self-Care Technique to Address Distress in an International Student Studying in Australia

This paper reports on an art-based autoethnography study aimed at helping the author, an international student, reflect on her personal distress during tertiary study in Australia. Over an 8-week period, the author engaged in meditation and art-making activities to articulate and reflect upon her experiences and emotions. Distress levels were recorded using the Visual Analogue Scale before and after each session of art making and reflection. The findings indicate a reduction in the author’s distress levels following engagement in art making and reflection. Furthermore, the process revealed the importance of maintaining a positive mindset and cultivating self-love, which contributed to the author’s reduced distress levels. In conclusion, this study reveals that engaging in art making effectively alleviated distress for the author during her time as an international student in Australia.

A walk in the park: Towards developing a fractal pedagogy of well-being

This article describes a cycle of a work-in-progress action research project that aims to develop and implement a fractal pedagogy for design students. The fractal pedagogy takes on board fractal patterns, self-similar repeating natural patterns, as a lens for artmaking and teaching. Fractals have been proven to be bountiful in nature and to engender a well-being or biophilic response in people. The action research cycle describes a collaborative effort to bring three guided nature walks to the local community in Dublin, Ohio, USA. The walks reaffirm connections between the fractals in the participants’ bodies and in the natural environment while carrying out fractal and well-being-centred artmaking activities. Each of the walks, the embodied, found object and marking-making walks, were led by a different local Ohio artist. This cycle will combine with previous and future research to define a fractal pedagogy that is collaborative, interdisciplinary and connected to nature.

Assessing the stress-relief impact of an art-based intervention inspired by the broaden-and-build theory in college students.

This study's primary objective is to investigate the impact of art-making on the mental well-being of college students, who often experience heightened stress during their initial university years. Employing a comprehensive methodology, combining interviews and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the research aimed to assess whether a four-week art-making intervention can effectively alleviate stress levels among college students. In the experimental group, participants engaged in a variety of art-making activities, including freehand drawing, clay modeling, and crafting. The results revealed that, in the pre-test, there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups for each assessed indicator. However, in the post-test, significant differences emerged across all indicators. Further analysis demonstrated a significant reduction in stress perception among the experimental group participants between the pre-test and post-test phases. In conclusion, this study provides compelling evidence that art-making has the potential to foster positive personal development and significantly reduce stress levels among college students.

Metode Moss Art Bryophyta untuk Pembelajaran Biologi Sekolah Menengah Pertama

Based on interviews with the Principal of SMP Negeri 2, Sungai Kakap District, Kubu Raya Regency, several pieces of information were obtained that (1) biology teachers in schools have not optimally utilized natural resources in the form of the diversity of Bryophyta around them as learning resources and (2) there is a lack of skills for students in managing the potential of natural resources around them into learning resources and marketable products. The Community Service Program (PkM) aims to train students to utilize the diversity of Bryophyta by making moss art for students of SMP Negeri 2 Sungai Rengas due to its aesthetic value. The PkM activity was conducted through training and assistance in making moss art for students. During the activity, the students who participated in the training seemed very enthusiastic in listening and following the instructions given and also obtained interesting and varied Moss Art designs from each group. The results of Moss Art-making activities can become one of the internalized activities in the development of the Pancasila Student Project at SMP Negeri 2, Sungai Kakap District, Kubu Raya Regency. The implications of this service are 1) making moss art can be used to strengthen the profile of Pancasila students in implementing the independent curriculum in schools, and 2) teachers can integrate Moss Art making into Biology learning on lower-level plant classification material.

A pilot randomized controlled trial of group-based indoor gardening and art activities demonstrates therapeutic benefits to healthy women.

BackgroundThere is mounting anecdotal and empirical evidence that gardening and art-making afford therapeutic benefits.ObjectivesThis randomly controlled pilot study tested the hypothesis that participation in group-based indoor gardening or art-making activities for one hour twice a week for four weeks would provide quantifiably different therapeutic benefits to a population of healthy women ages 26–49.MethodsA population of 42 volunteers was randomly assigned to parallel gardening or art-making treatment groups. A total of 36 participants initiated the treatment protocol and 32 (Gardening n = 15 and Art n = 17) received the interventions and completed all assessments. Treatments included eight one-hour group-based gardening or art intervention sessions. Self-report psychometric assessments were conducted for anxiety, depression symptomatology, mood disturbance, stress, satisfaction with discretionary social activities, and quality of life measures. Cardiac physiological data were also collected. Outcomes were measured at baseline, during, and post-intervention.ResultsEngaging in both gardening and art-making activities resulted in apparent therapeutic improvements for self-reported total mood disturbance, depression symptomatology, and perceived stress with different effect sizes following eight one-hour treatment sessions. Gardening also resulted in improvements for indications of trait anxiety. Based on time-course evidence, dosage responses were observed for total mood disturbance, perceived stress, and depression symptomatology for both gardening and art-making. However, gardening or art-making did not have an apparent influence on heart rate or blood pressure or result in marked improvement for satisfaction with discretionary leisure activities.ConclusionThe data did not support the hypothesis of differential therapeutic benefits of gardening and art-making for healthy women. When taken together, group-based gardening or art-making can provide quantitatively measurable improvements in healthy women’s psychosocial health status that imply potentially important public health benefits.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03266120.

Distance Therapeutic Artmaking:

Therapeutic uses of art have been acknowledged since even before the emergence of art therapy as a discipline and profession. Over the last couple of years, the Psychology of Art course managed under the Visual Art Study Program ITB has included discussion and therapeutic artmaking practice for students from all over the university. During the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the delivery of therapeutic artmaking practice in the classroom had to be adjusted. Therefore, a video guide was created to help the students to follow the course activities. This paper describes the process and the theoretical background of making the video guide as well as discussing some of the students’ reports using the self-concept framework and the effectiveness of distance therapeutic artmaking activities. The preliminary study used a quasi-experimental approach, specifically a pre-experimental design, towards Psychology of Art students in 2020. The data used included verbal reports and images, which were analyzed qualitatively using codification and content analysis with two raters to discuss the findings. The results showed that the activity was impactful towards students’ self-concept. In some findings, the participants elaborated how the activity had impacted them positively. In the future, this model of distant therapeutic artmaking can be further developed and distributed to give benefits to a larger audience.

Arts-Based Program for Home-Based Care Dyads in Singapore

Creative Arts Educ Ther (2021) 7(2):200–215 DOI: 10.15212/CAET/2021/7/21 Arts-Based Program for Home-Based Care Dyads in Singapore Abstract This article describes an arts-based intervention program for seven care dyads of elderly persons and their caregivers who are foreign domestic workers (FDWs) in Singapore. The intervention aimed to introduce interdisciplinary tools of artmaking and mindfulness that could be used to improve the communication and relationship between the care dyad and to support the stress reduction and self-care of caregivers. Following a client-based approach, eight sessions were conducted, once weekly, over a 2-month period in hybrid structure, at the home of the care dyad and through the use of Google Meet. Qualitative data were collected in personal interviews, questionnaires, and visual data, and they were connected with art therapists’ fieldnotes and reflection journals. At the end of the program, an online feedback session was offered to the elderly participants’ family members, and their feedback was collected using a questionnaire. The data analysis confirms the impact of the artmaking intervention on the communication and relationship of the dyad. Participants reported that artmaking combined with mindfulness tools contributed to their understanding of their care-recipient (CR)/caregiver, improved their daily care activities, and helped caregivers explore new ways of self-care and stress relief. The hybrid model of implementation was effective and encouraged caregivers to explore and practice the tools learned independently between sessions. The results of this pilot program inform the development of intervention programs for care dyads as well as training programs for both caregivers, art therapists, and other care professionals. The intervention for care dyads highlights the importance of dyadic care as part of a holistic approach to caregiving. The inclusion of FDWs in the program suggests that both CRs and caregivers are one unit in which their well-being is interdependent. Further research may explore specific artmaking activities for other dyads of caregivers and CRs with differing care needs and backgrounds. Potential training activities and models could support the use of this intervention by therapists and other professionals. Keywords: art-based, mindfulness, care dyad, self-care, homecare, elderly, domestic workers, hybrid intervention, Singapore 摘要 本文介绍了一项以艺术为基础的干预计划, 该计划已应用于新加坡的七对年长者以及担 任其照顾者的外籍家庭佣工。该干预计划旨在引入艺术制作和正念的跨学科工具, 改善 护理二分体 (即年长者与其照顾者形成的一个单位) 之间的沟通和关系, 并支持照顾 者减压和自我照顾。该计划遵循以个案为中心的方法, 历时两个月时间, 以每周一次, 一共八次, 混合式结构的方式, 在护理二分体的家中通过使用 Google Meet 视频会 议进行干预。本研究通过个人访谈、问卷调查和视觉数据收集定性数据, 并将这些数 据与艺术治疗师的实地记录和反思日志结合起来。在干预计划结束时, 计划实施者为 年长参与者的家人提供了一次在线双向反馈会议, 并通过问卷收集了家人的反馈。数据 分析证实了艺术制作干预对护理二分体的沟通和关系的正面影响。参与者报告说, 艺术 制作与正念的工具相结合, 有助于他们了解对方 (照顾者/被照顾者), 改善他们的 日常护理活动, 并帮助照顾者探索自我照顾和缓解压力的新方法。实施的混合式模型 是有效的, 并鼓励照顾者在视频会议干预以外的时间独立探索和练习所学到的工具。 该试点计划的结果为护理二分体干预计划的制定以及照顾者、艺术治疗师和其他护理专 业人员的培训计划提供了信息。针对护理二分体的干预计划强调了二分体式的护理 作为全面护理方法的一个重要组成部分。将外籍家庭佣工纳入该计划表明, 被照顾 者和照顾者是一个单位, 他们的福祉相互依存。进一步的研究可以探索针对其他具有 不同护理需求和背景的照顾者和被照顾者的特定艺术制作活动。潜在的培训活动和 模型也可以支持治疗师和其他专业人员使用这种干预。 关键词： 以艺术为基础, 正念, 护理二分体, 自我照顾, 居家护理, 年长者, 家庭佣工, 混合式干预, 新加坡

Schattenriss (Silhouette)

The lexeme Schattenriss (silhouette) refers to an object that is suggestive of why materiality matters to Goethe’s philosophical thought. It touches on several intellectual and aesthetic areas, including semiotics (natural versus arbitrary signs), art, physiognomy, anthropology, color theory, and epistemology. A popular reproductive artform of the late eighteenth century, the silhouette entered into Goethe’s own collecting and artistic practices already in the 1770s. Collaboration with Johann Caspar Lavater (1741–1801) extended the significance of the silhouette profile into the scientific arena and built on Enlightenment visual agendas. The Schattenriss is also connected with eighteenth-century theories of mimesis and representation that concern related terms like Umriss (outline, contour) and also appear in Goethe’s aesthetic writings. In his later work on color theory and the art-making activities of the Johanna Schopenhauer salon, however, Goethe focuses on the shadowy interior and the colorful shades of the shadow rather than the static line of the Umriss to take the silhouette into striking new scientific and aesthetic territory.

Participatory visual arts activities for people with dementia: a review.

To report and summarise the effects of interventions using participatory visual arts activities in dementia research through a narrative synthesis systematic review. We searched four databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA). Of the 3263 records retrieved, 20 were included in this review. Quality was assessed with the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) and the Downs and Black checklist. The use of participatory visual arts has positive effects on cognition, social and psychological functioning of people with dementia, although the diversity of the studies provided inconsistent evidence of an overall positive effect. Participants evaluated the interventions as enjoyable and engaging. This review adds to previous work done by Deshmukh et al. and Windle et al. with a focus on studies that had participatory visual art-making activities made by people with dementia. The use of participatory arts may bring benefits for people with dementia. The heterogeneity of the interventions prevented generalisation of the results. Criteria associated with positive outcomes of the intervention are reported to aid on the design of participatory visual arts interventions for people with dementia. Future research in participatory arts should have a more detailed description of the methods and art interventions.

Public Libraries as Sites of Collision for Arts Education, the Maker Movement, and Neoliberal Agendas in Education

In recent years, the concept “making” has been claimed by “The Maker Movement.” While making offers great potential (and resources) for art integration in informal learning sites, maker discourse is often intertwined with a neoliberal mission. For example, movement leaders glorify Steve Jobs and hark on the myth that hobbies can be transformed into wealth-generating endeavors. As art-making activities in informal learning setting across the U.S. intersect with the maker movement, prominent learning theories that contradict this neoliberal philosophy may be repurposed or disremembered. Constructionist learning will require a continued commitment to a notion of learning by doing, “rather than acquiring theoretical precepts for subsequent application” (Ingold, 2013, p. 52). This article examines research from a multi-year empirical study of a Public Library system’s arts-based maker program. It provides a rich example of how discourse around making fits into learning in arts education, showcasing instances when neoliberal ideology collides with contradictory theories regarding how and why people learn and make. First, this paper will introduce the reader to the maker movement in education and review literature on making, learning, and neoliberalism. Secondly, I analyze the discourse of public librarians who implement the arts programming and suggest possible implications for how learning through the arts can be undermined by neoliberalism. And, finally, this article proposes a view of making that does align with arts education that embraces dispositional, constructionist, and post-modern/new materialist approaches to learning: Making as the reciprocal relationship between maker, material, tools, skill, and intention.

Art, music, story: The evaluation of a person-centred arts in health programme in an acute care older persons' unit.

To evaluate the impact of an arts in health programme delivered by a specialised artist within an acute older person's unit. Acute hospitals must meet the increasingly complex needs of older people who experience multiple comorbidities, often including cognitive impairment, either directly related to their admission or longer term conditions, including dementia. A focus on physical illness, efficiency and tasks within an acute care environment can all divert attention from the psychosocial well-being of patients. This focus also decreases capacity for person-centred approaches that acknowledge and value the older person, their life story, relationships and the care context. The importance of arts for health and wellness, including responsiveness to individual need, is well established: however, there is little evidence about its effectiveness for older people in acute hospital settings. We report on a collaborative arts in health programme on an acute medical ward for older people. The qualitative study used collaborative enquiry underpinned by a constructivist approach to evaluate an arts programme that involved participatory art-making activities, customised music, song and illustration work, and enlivening the unit environment. Data sources included observation of art activities, semi-structured interviews with patients and family members, and focus groups with staff. Data were transcribed and thematically analysed using a line by line approach. The programme had positive impacts for the environment, patients, families and staff. The environment exhibited changes as a result of programme outputs; patients and families were engaged and enjoyed activities that aided recovery from illness; and staff also enjoyed activities and importantly learnt new ways of working with patients. An acute care arts in health programme is a carefully nuanced programme where the skills of the arts health worker are critical to success. Utilising such skill, continued focus on person-centeredness and openness to creativity demonstrated positive impacts for patients, families, staff and the ward environment. This study affirms the contribution of an arts in health program for older persons in an acute care setting in challenging the dominance of a task based medical model and emphasising person-centred care and outcomes.

Visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders

ABSTRACTThis study provides a better understanding of using visual arts in counselling adults with depressive disorders. Three in-depth case studies were conducted in the counselling unit of a mental health hospital in Malaysia. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied to explore three adult participants’ counselling experiences. They attended six individual counselling sessions, which included four art-making activities, and two after-session interviews, for approximately two months. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings showed that through the therapeutic use of visual arts, the participants were able to explore and express various emotions, face their problems, communicate better with themselves and the counsellor, achieve a deeper self-understanding, and make meaningful progress in counselling, even though some of them experienced a sense of uncertainty at the beginning of some art-making activities.

Examining Kindergarteners’ Drawings for Their Perspectives on Picture Books’ Themes and Characters

<p class="apa">The aim of this study was to identify and characterize children’s perspectives on a picture book’s themes and characters by examining their drawings. The study was conducted over a five-month period in a public kindergarten in southern Taiwan, with six children aged 5-6 years. Picture book appreciation activities focused on eight picture books. Research data were collected via digital recordings of participants’ appreciation and art-making activities, interviews, and associate teachers’ feedback. A qualitative research method was used to process and analyze data. Study results indicate that with regard to theme, children could clearly identify and characterize a story’s theme but seldom offered in-depth interpretations. With regard to character, children could describe a picture book character’s outward appearance and inner feelings but could not present its inner feelings in their drawings. These and other findings from this study could aid early childhood educators in conducting picture book appreciation activities in the future.</p>

At the heart of art and earth: an exploration of practices in arts-based environmental education

In today’s technological world, human intertwinement with the rest of nature hasbeen severely diminished. In our digital culture, many people hardly have any direct experience of and sense of connection with “the real” of the natural world. The author assumes that when we want to find ways to mend this gap, arts-based environmental education (AEE) can play a meaningful role. In AEE, artmaking is regarded as itself a way of potentially gaining new understandings about our natural environment. As a reflective practitioner, the author facilitated three different AEE activities, at several times and at diverse locations. On basis of his observations, memories, written notes, audio-visual recordings and interviews with participants, teachers and informed outsiders, he interpreted the experiences both of participants and himself. To this end he employed interpretative phenomenological analysis paired with autoethnography. The artmaking activities researched here aimed to bring about a shift in focus. Participants were encouraged to approach natural phenomena not head-on, but in an indirect way. Moreover, the artmaking process aspired to heighten their awareness to the presence of their embodied self at a certain place. The research questions that the author poses in this study are: (1) What is distinctive in the process of the AEE activities that I facilitate?; (2) Which specific competencies can be identified for a facilitator of AEE activities?; and (3) Does participating in the AEE activities that I facilitate enhance the ability of participants to have a direct experience of feeling connected to the natural world? In this explorative study, the author identifies facilitated estrangement through participating in AEE as an important catalyst when aiming to evoke such instances of transformative learning. In undergoing such moments, participants grope their way in a new liminal space. Artmaking can create favorable conditions for this to happen through its defamiliarizing effect which takes participants away from merely acting according to habit (on “autopilot”). The open-ended structure of the artmaking activities contributed to the creation of a learning arena in which emergent properties could become manifest. Thus, participants could potentially experience a sense of wonder and begin to acquire new understandings – a form of knowing that the author calls “rudimentary cognition.” The research further suggests that a facilitator should be able to bear witness to and hold the space for whatever enfolds in this encounter with artistic process in AEE. He or she must walk the tightrope between control and non-interfering. The analysis of the impacts of the AEE activities that were facilitated leads the author to conclude that it is doubtful whether these in and of themselves caused participants to experience the natural environment in demonstrable new and deep ways. He asserts that most of their awareness was focused on the internal level of their own embodied presence; engagement with place, the location where the AEE activity was performed, seemed secondary. The findings show that AEE activities first and foremost help bring about the ignition and augmentation of the participants’ fascination and curiosity, centered in an increased awareness of their own body and its interactions with the natural world. The present study can be seen as a contribution to efforts of envisaging innovative forms of sustainable education that challenge the way we have distanced ourselves from the more-than-human world.

“I Look Cool; He’s Dead Now”: Reconsidering Children’s Violent Play Art

In this article, the author discusses some of the photographs and videos that her students produced, and shares how their artwork serves as one way that, when given freedom and choice, children will incorporate violent play into their artmaking activities. The author argues that these images are not evidence of inherently violent, dangerous, or aggressive behaviors, but simply one way that children are making sense of the world in which they live through art. These artworks are meaningful and serve as a bridge that helps art educators to understand their students' experiences and interests. Language: en

Visible Voices: Expressive arts with isolated seniors using trained volunteers

This practice-based paper describes an innovative program from Ontario, Canada that explored the potential for volunteer-facilitated expressive arts to contribute to the well-being of socially isolated rural seniors. Inspired by Arts on Prescription initiatives in the UK and coordinated by a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant/Educator, the program involved eight older volunteers and eight older participants engaged in a 10-week series of one-on-one intermodal art-making activities in the participants' homes and institutional settings in 2009–2010. An evaluation of the program design and implementation is presented and the challenges and opportunities of expressive arts with isolated seniors using trained volunteers are discussed.

Health-related factors associated with participation in creative hobbies by Australian women aged in their eighties

Background: Population-based epidemiological studies can contribute to the spectrum of research evidence regarding the potential role of the arts in improving health and well-being among older people. To date, these studies are uncommon. The aim of the current study was to investigate health-related factors associated with participation in creative hobbies in women aged in their eighties living in Australia. Method: Descriptive and regression analyses were performed on data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health 2008 postal survey of women born 1921–1926 (n = 5470). Results: Creative hobbies were undertaken by 52.7% of the sample and positively associated with physical health (IADL), health-related quality of life (general health, social functioning) and other social and demographic indicators. Conclusion: The relationship between participation in creative hobbies and health in older women is likely to be complex and influenced by many factors including individual physical capacity and independence as well as access to art-making activities.

The Curricular Reform of Art Education in Primary School in Slovenia in Terms of Certain Components of the European Competence of Cultural Awareness and Expression

One of the important positions of the last curricular reform in Slovenia, which included systemic issues of education (White Paper on Education, 2011) and curricula for compulsory subjects in primary school, is the fact that Slovenia has been integrated into Europe, and thus education should also include the development of core European competences. One such competence is cultural awareness and expression, which until now has been an issue more in the context of cultural policies than school policies in Slovenia. The purpose of the present article is to critically analyse the curricular reform of art education (i.e., visual art education), through which, in terms of certain components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression, it is foreseen that the student will gain a knowledge of art, develop an ability to experience works of art and develop a creative attitude towards art and heritage.Because the starting point and goal of curricular change is the curriculum, our analysis is derived from curriculum theories, and not from the art theories and pedagogical theories that have predominantly framed previous attempts at curriculum analysis. Critical consideration of the curricular reform of art education in primary school in terms of certain components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression was undertaken by comparing curricula in the field of aesthetic education. We compared art education with music education and literature within the Slovenian language curriculum. Qualitative analysis showed that, despite the reform, the curriculum for arts education does not realise selected components of the competence of cultural awareness and expression, largely due to the curriculum’s conceptual structure. Art education is centred principally on art-making activities, with an obviousneglect of appreciation. The integration of arts subjects at school, as proposed by the White Paper, is therefore not possible, due to the existing model of art education. From a practical point of view, the analysis also raised the question of the knowledge and competences of teachers.