| This arts-based research study explored the dynamics of expressing positive emotions, within the intersubjective art making process. The study addressed a multifaceted problem involving a gap in knowledge about the process of emotional expression through art making, which is key to therapeutic action in art therapy. The design was arts-based research, as art making was the primary means of inquiry. The philosophy and methodology of arts-based research were employed to explore the emotional aspects of intersubjective experience. Following the traditions of arts based research, the meaning-making capacity of creating art was used to illuminate the process of artistic creation in response to the research questions. The research was conducted following approval by the Drexel University IRB. Five English-speaking adults who were professional art therapists were recruited as key informants. The method of data generation involved an initial two hour Art Interview, followed by reflexive memoing and responsive art-making by the researcher and a subsequent second Art Interview with co-researchers. Methodological credibility procedures consisted of member checking and peer review. The data analysis processes involved: 1) traditional use of qualitative data analysis practices, such as the use of MAXQDA-10 software for coding for themes and 2) arts-based research data analysis methods. The analysis of the interview data, artistic data, artistic responses and a creative synthesis addressed the research question in the form of visual art pieces, poetry, a video, three stories, four themes, and a theoretical model. Overall, the verbal and artistic analysis of the data resulted in thematic categories that represent the emergence of emotions within the intersubjective art therapy relationship. Based upon the findings, the emergence of emotions within the intersubjective context was conceptualized as an iterative process beginning with metaphors of life and nature, the development of trust, revelations of emotion, empathic responses, reflexivity and joint artmaking creating and causing destabilization, deconstruction, reconstruction, and reimagining of perceptions and meanings. An emerging, holistic view of emotions and the transformative capacity of artmaking in a context of relational trust were discussed. Clinical applications included consideration of the therapeutic use of response art and joint artmaking. The limitations of the study were also described, as was methodological criteria for arts-based research. Overall, this expanding discourse helped to identify ways art therapy works. The study achieved its aim by contributing knowledge to our understanding of how emotions emerge, are expressed, and assigned meaning within an art therapy relational context. |
