Page 15 - ART FORM AND MENTAL HEALTH - Ingrid Pénzes

other. For example, the therapist’s art assignment influences the art- making process and the art product of the client. The three axes of the art therapy triad reflect these interactions (see Figure 1).
The axis therapist – art form represents how the therapist systematically applies the art materials and art product in order to evoke specific experiences that meet the purpose of art therapy assessment or personal and relational treatment goals (https://www.arttherapy.org/, 2019). This is how art therapy differentiates from the art making of, for example, professional artists.
The axis therapist – client is reciprocal and refers to the relationship that concerns the verbal and non-verbal communication between client and therapist and their attitude towards each other during the art-making process. It includes for example the therapist’s art instructions and assignments and the client’s response towards the therapist.
The axis art form – client is reciprocal. The first direction of this axis represents the effect of the art form on a client, and thus the way the art materials and art product could influence the client. The art materials’ properties – being more fluid or resistive – may evoke different art-making experiences; more fluid materials are assumed to evoke more affective experiences, whereas resistive art materials could evoke more cognitive experiences (Hinz, 2009, 2015; Malchiodi, 2012; Moon Hyland, 2010; Schnetz, 2005; Virshup, Riley & Sheperd, 1993). It is assumed that art materials evoke clients’ familiar and unfamiliar thoughts, feelings and behavior and allow exploration of new thoughts and feelings and experimentation with other behaviors (e.g. Haeyen, 2018; Keulen & Poismans, 2018). As the art materials elicit diverse cognitive and affective experiences, the art-making process is an experiential process. The art product helps the client take distance from the art-making process and the involved experiences. The visible and tangible result of the art-making process allows the client to reflect on thoughts, feelings and behaviors that they may have been previously unaware of. This may also be done in a joint verbal reflection with the therapist. Insights may enhance the client’s therapeutic process. The second direction of this axis refers to the art-making process. This is the active working phase in which the client actively uses, and interacts with, the art materials in order to create art. This process involves the client’s actions and movements in interaction with art materials such as pencils and paint. During this art making, the client experiences the properties of the art materials. The client’s response to materials demonstrates personal
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