Art-based Research

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1998: Shaun McNiff

Jessica Kingsley Publishers

ISBN: 978-1-85302-620-1

Hardcover, Paperback, eBook
English

Website

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Art therapy and all of the other creative arts therapies have promoted themselves as ways of expressing what cannot be conveyed in conventional language. Why is it that creative arts therapists fail to apply this line of thinking to research? In this exciting and innovative book, Shaun McNiff, one of the field's pioneering educators and authors, breaks new ground in defining and inspiring art-based research. He illustrates how practitioner-researchers can become involved in art-based inquiries during their educational studies and throughout their careers, and shows how new types of research can be created that resonate with the artistic process. Clearly and cogently expressed, the theoretical arguments are illustrated by numerous case examples, and the final part of the book provides a wealth of ideas and thought provoking questions for research. This challenging book will prove invaluable to creative art therapy educators, students, and clinicians who wish to approach artistic inquiry as a way of conducting research. It will also find a receptive audience within the larger research community where there is a rising commitment to expanding the theory and practice of research. Integrating artistic and scientific procedures in many novel ways, this book offers fresh and productive visions of what research can be.

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Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy

Theoretical and Clinical Perspectives

 

1998: Stephen K. Levine and Ellen G. Levine

J. Kingsley Publishers

ISBN: 978-1-85302-463-4

Paperback
English

Website

 

Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy provides an arts-based approach to the theory and practice of expressive arts therapy. The book explores the various expressive arts therapy modalities both individually and in relationship to each other. The contributors emphasize the importance of the imagination and of aesthetic experience, arguing that these are central to psychological well-being, and challenging accepted views which place primary emphasis on the cognitive and emotional dimensions of mental health and development.

Part One explores the theory which informs the practice of expressive arts therapy. Part Two relates this theory to the therapeutic application of the expressive arts (including music, art, movement, drama, poetry and voicework) in different contexts, ranging from play therapy with children to trauma work with Bosnian refugees and second-generation Holocaust survivors. Comprehensive in its coverage of the most fundamental aspects of expressive arts therapy, this book is a significant contribution to the field and a useful reference for all practitioners.

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Trust the Process

An Artist's Guide to Letting Go

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1998: Shaun McNiff

Shambhala Publications

ISBN: 978-1-57062-357-8

Paperback, eBook
English

Website

 

Whether in painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life, there is an intelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier of creation.

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If we trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with its ability to find a way through problems - and even make creative use of our mistakes and failures.

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There is a magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow it always finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination you never could have known in advance.

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When everything seems as if it is hopeless and going nowhere ... trust the process.