Page 39 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

- Two therapists mentioned the influence of paper size. They said that a big white sheet of paper could either discourage or stimulate a client. The art therapists generally used smaller paper sizes in this assessment phase.
- All art therapists used 2D materials instead of 3D materials. According to the therapists, 2D materials provided an easier overview than 3D materials, and therefore, 2D materials provided more structure and grip.
Most art therapists found it important to observe the client’s individual way of art making as the assessment proceeded, specifically patterns that characterized the material interaction. Therapists often let the client choose the art material or used art materials that were multi-faceted, such as watercolor pencils and soft pastels. The properties of these materials were characterized by a broad scope of possibilities: use of the materials dry or mixed with (a lot of) water, use of the tip for lining or the sides for shaping, keeping the colors separated or mixed with water or by rubbing them out. The observation of patterns in the way a client interacted with these properties of the material provided a perspective on the client’s mental health.
The art therapists emphasized the application of art materials in the final stage of the assessment to evoke different ways of making art than the clients’ authentic manner to assess the client’s flexibility. The art therapists in this stage offered art materials with properties that evoked the making of art that was opposite to the client’s familiar way of making art and interacting with materials. The art therapists challenged the familiar way of art making by linking the properties of art materials to typical material interaction. Therapists offered the client materials that were more fluid and difficult to control, such as ink and watercolor, during rationalization. Therapists also offered art materials that required more physical contact, such as finger paint, soft pastel and sometimes clay. Therapists challenged the client to experiment more with the properties of the art materials, which stimulated more interaction between the client and the art material.
Therapist 2: “Here, he is thinking hard, contemplating what he is going to do. As for the other assignments, I tried to offer art materials that evoked more, well just more out of his feeling, into movement, into the material itself instead of his rational analyzing and thinking. So I offered him finger paint”
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