Page 110 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

led us to the theories of De Visser (2010), Huntsman (2016), Boermans and van der Borght (2017), and Taylor (2014). The bibliographies of art therapy assessment literature regarding the use of formal elements did not refer to any art theory (Eitel et al., 2008; Elbing, Hölzer, Danner-Weinberger, von Wietersheim, 2009; Elbing & Hacking, 2001; Schoch et al., 2017; Stuhler- Bauer & Elbing, 2003).
Eight theories were included in further comparative analysis: the ILOUvA model (Van der Kamp & Cuijpers, 2015), Acton (2009), the KPC model (Gerrits, 2000), Tate Modern (Gale, 2016; Wilson & Lack, 2016), Taylor (2014), de Visser (2010), Huntsman (2016), and Boermans and van der Borght (2017). The formal elements included in these theories and their descriptions were compared for similarities. We found agreement on 17 formal elements across five categories: (1) “shape”, including “geometry” and “contour”; (2) “composition”, including “symmetry”, “rhythm”, “line quality”, “linearity”, “movement” and “dynamic”; (3) “color”, including “number of colors”, “color saturation”, “color brightness”, “hue” and “mixture of color”; (4) “space”, including “filled area”, “used space” and “suggestion of space” and (5) “surface quality”, including “texture” (see Table 1).
A sixth category also emerged: “light”. In this category, formal elements such as “floodlight”, “light source” and “clair-obscure” were included. These formal elements mainly concern photography or art products with realistic styles, such as “baroque” or “romanticism”. These styles are often seen in art schools, but are rarely seen in art therapy.
Art theories all conceptualized formal elements as continua with dominant presence of absence in the art product as polarities. Also, all the theories mentioned that formal elements could reinforce or weaken each other. Most art theories explicitly differentiate extra categories consisting of “material and technique”, “size/scale” and “frame” that are not described in terms of polarities. Even though these aspects are observable aspects of the art product, most theories exclude these aspects from the first level of analysis. Seventeen formal elements and their descriptions were conceptualized (see Table 1).
108 | Chapter 5