This study explores the impact that traditional artmaking can have on the wellness of individuals who continue to practice their traditional crafts. Limited research has explored how culturally adapted art therapy practices and culturally relevant materials can promote wellness and alleviate emotional and acculturation challenges for multicultural populations. This research included a case study approach that invited five participants who regularly engaged in a traditional artmaking practice to continue their practice for four consecutive weeks and reflect on their sense of wellness after each traditional artmaking engagement. Over the four weeks, participants completed an initial survey to assess their baseline sense of wellness, weekly surveys that included the WHO-5 Well-being Index, and a final interview over Zoom web conferencing. Through a thematic analysis of the qualitative data, the researchers recognized two overarching themes: (1) the sense of wellness through experiencing a connection to culture, and (2) connection to heritage and present-moment awareness. The survey results revealed that environmental stressors often impacted the participant’s ability to rate wellness in connection to their artmaking practice and that their practice was a helpful distraction that positively impacted wellness. This research suggests that engaging in traditional cultural art practices can increase an individual’s sense of wellness through a deeper connection to their culture and their present-moment awareness. Further studies regarding traditional cultural artmaking practices and their impact on wellness may inspire and support art therapists in decolonizing therapeutic approaches and empowering multicultural communities and individuals.

This research examined the usefulness of art making in exploring sexuality. Specifically, women participating in partners of sex addicts groups and the LGBTQ online community were invited to take an online survey, exploring both visually and verbally discuss how they view their sexuality and how they think others view their sexuality. The data was then analyzed within and between categories to produce three overarching themes: (1) Expressing sexuality: the tension between the self and others (2) The usefulness of art making to explore sexuality, and (3) Limitations and challenges of the study. Through the discussion of the themes, researchers found a dichotomy between how participants see their sexuality and how others see it. Art was found to be a useful device for exploring the emotionality and complexity of sexuality.

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The dissertation Art and Motherhood deals with the influence of motherhood on the experienced reality of women active in artistic practice - artists, theorists, curators and activists. Using feminist and artistic research methods, I collect and analyse the specific experiences of individual mothers. Capturing the breadth of possible views, perspectives and experiences that motherhood brings is essential to my research. I am not concerned in isolation instances of specific artistic realisations, but rather with the processes, environments and contexts of making, and the creative and life strategies employed in reconciling the personal and professional roles of individual women artists. The content of a series of thirty-five conducted interviews comprises the research material for the work, but is also the source for the practical component of the dissertation - the book Milk and Honey co-published by the wo-men and AVU publishing houses. The practice of two related community-based mothers' groups - Breastfeeding Guerillas and Mothers Artlovers is also examined. While Breastfeeding Guerrilla is a support group for mothers promoting and normalizing breastfeeding, Mothers Artlovers is a support group for parents in the arts. All of these research units set a community-based perspective on all research affecting the universal, multi-layered and inherently collective topic of motherhood.

The objective of this dissertation is to establish the notion that art can serve to create and communicate an awareness of the interconnectedness between people and nature. This study debates the theoretical similarities and differences in attitudes toward the planet as interpreted in the artworks of pre-history shamans and traditional societies, 20th century land and urban artists and contemporary environmentally concerned artists. The comparative findings suggest that attitudes of anthropocentricism, greed and power and a denial of Pantheism associated with agriculture, industrial and technological developments, have changed the human-nature symbiosis found in early societies. The creative component of this study has employed the processes of etching and embossing, digital image manipulations and the juxtaposition and layering of images to establish visual metaphors that communicate interconnectedness. Sculptures, billboards, prints and photographs as artworks of the conscience intend to shift socially and personally constructed perceptions from human-centeredness toward a symbiotic worldview. / Art History, Visual Arts & Musicology / M.A. (Visual Arts)

As higher education moves increasingly to online and hybrid programs, more students will be taking art appreciation courses virtually. The research that exists on student perceptions related to hands-on art making suggests that active creation is valuable in fostering creativity, inspiring knowledge, and supporting and motivating students. The purpose of this case study was to explore non-art major, college-level students' experiences, perceptions, and reflections of an active learning component within an online art appreciation class delivered at a public university in the southeastern United States. Three research questions were developed to explore the students' experiences, perceptions, and reflections of this hands-on art making component. The conceptual framework was based on the combined work of prominent theoreticians, educators and scholars in the arts including Dewey, Piaget, Bruner, Gardner, and Eisner. To complete this case study, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 non-art major, college level students (enrolled in online art appreciation during the 2015-16 academic year) and included discussion about a specific art work that each student made. The interview data was analyzed using open-coded thematic analysis. The overall findings indicated that: there is an emotional response to hands-on art making, appropriate faculty instruction is an important factor in actively engaged learning, and students gain knowledge through the active learning component of the online art appreciation class. Findings were used to design a 3-day professional development workshop. Implications for educators include advocating for variations in art coursework for online students.

This thesis is an autoethnography of an elementary art teacher who has transitioned from a traditional, teacher-led curriculum to a choice-based model where more freedom and responsibilities are given to the students. It is an account of the challenges and obstacles faced during the implementation of a choice-based curriculum and offers possible solutions, teaching strategies, and tips utilized to navigate the transition.

This research investigates formative and definitive lived experiences as two narrative forms - art works and writing. The research seeks to uncover the essential features of these experiences (dominated as they are by my experiences of AIDS and the after effects of war) and bring the two narratives together as a reflexive and reflective dialogue. The 'lens' of my art practice (both written and visual) is predominantly that of a landscape painter -be it 'landscape of faces' (portraits), landscapes of the human form (figurative) or the more traditional descriptions of landscape (especially deserts). Phenomenological research is a particular mode of describing and understanding the contours of lived experience. By a process of self-reflection and critical analysis this research explores various understandings of landscape so as to uncover their structure and meaning and to come to a deeper understanding of how those elements influence my art making.