What Do We See?: Extending Understanding of Visual Experience in the Art Therapy Encounter

Abstract

Visual experience and meaning making in art therapy constitute more than looking at the image created. Clients and therapists utilize the environment of therapy in ways that have been hitherto unrecognized. This article presents a key finding from an art-based study of the experience of the art therapy room from the perspectives of client and therapist participants. The study found that clients may silently support themselves through aspects of what they can see, whereas therapists more intentionally incorporate objects and visual qualities of the room into therapeutic practice both for their clients’ therapeutic benefit and their own emotional and professional support.

Acknowledgments

Editor's Note: Patricia Fenner, PhD, a registered art therapist, is the Coordinator of the Graduate Diploma of Art Therapy and Lecturer in the Department of Counseling and Psychological Health at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia.