Data gathering in Art Therapy

DEPARTMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY AND ART THERAPY

VISUAL RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CRITICAL APPROACH OF DATA GATHERING

Module Co-ordinator: Peter Byrne

Student: Vasiliki Tsiaousi

         Coming from an educational and psychological background and being an amateur artist it took me a long time to adjust to the multidimensional visual way of thinking. When I first joined the course I used to draw representational and conventional pictures and to be more interested in looking at conventional artwork. I used to focus on the subject of a picture and ignore other parameters of it, such as colours.

A few weeks later I started visiting exhibitions of modern art in order to be experienced/exposed to a different approach of art. My visit to the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art was the most interesting experience for me. I tried to look at abstract pictures, to feel them, to speak with their colours and to guess the dialogue between the picture and the artist, something I hadn’t tried before. Afterwards, I have been inspired many times by abstract paintings.

The experiential group I used to join every week was also very helpful for me. Most of my classmates were artists and felt more confident in making art and expressing their visual thinking. Before that I wouldn’t believe that my classmates could be teaching me so many things on this field. During our group sessions I used to observe the way they were working on their paintings, how they symbolised their concerns and how they explained their work. Many of my artworks have also been inspired by my classmate’s work.

During the same period I started keeping a visual diary. It was the first time in my life that I kept a visual rather than a written diary. I had never thought before to draw my thoughts almost daily instead of writing them down. While the time moved on, I felt how different the world was through the images. I could say so many things by just making some lines on a sheet of paper. I was really surprised when I realised how challenging it is when you are thinking visually. I could express my sadness, my anger and all my concerns by drawing and I felt so comfortable by doing so. I could certainly tell that this diary helped me very much to overcome the difficulties I came across living in a foreign country.

Gradually, by visiting exhibitions, joining the experiential group and keeping a visual diary the way I was making art and thinking of or experiencing situations changed. I started expressing my feelings and knowing my self better by making abstract paintings. I focused on the seduction of colours rather than on the subjects of the pictures without neglecting the other parameters of the artwork. Actually, I tried to integrate my psychological background into art rather than bolt it. Experiencing a new way of thinking, the visual way of thinking, I could understand myself and other people’s feelings more deeply. The understanding of my client’s work changed dramatically.

Running the last month of my first year studies I feel more confident in thinking visually. Confidence comes from being more able than I was before I joined the course to see things deeply, to research or interpret an image symbolically and to express my deepest perceptions abstractedly. Visual thinking is absolutely a different way of thinking.