Creative Arts Therapy Research
A virtual holding space for research in Experiential & Creative Arts Therapy
Life After Art School: An Inquiry into Fine & Visual Art Graduates’ Experiences of Creative “Stuckness”
Natalya Garden-Thompson, 2014.
This research was informed by my personal experience of what I have come to call creative “stuckness.” After graduating in 2004 with a Bachelor of Visual Arts, I struggled to find my way in the art world. I discovered I was not alone but part of a disenchanted community of “stuck” artists. Despite this being a common experience, I found there was a significant gap in the research and literature about what life is like for visual and fine art graduates and the challenges they may face.
I utilised an emergent, multi-modal and arts-based research approach to co inquire into the experiences around creative “stuckness” of three visual and fine art graduates. The MIECAT procedure of intersubjective responding became pivotal as I negotiated my role as a researcher who was also a creatively “stuck” artist.
This research project highlights the value of collaboration in art making and the role of intersubjective responding. It also reinforces the benefit of art making for personal wellbeing and as a way of knowing.
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