El Duende One-Canvas Art Making and the Significance of an Interim Period

Abstract

Two art-based research studies led to discoveries about the interim period, an integral part of El Duende (EDPP) one-canvas art making. The researcher and five adults were visually recorded during art making sessions. Results suggested the paradox of the sustained pause; that in the perceived non-doing, much is happening. The interim period was identified by three patterns (no desire to change things; internal stillness; personal style), and four therapeutic qualities (sense of continuity; touchstones; incubation; digital media enhanced remembering). The primacy of the artist’s identity led to two practical implications: working with tension and the use of digital documentation as an expression of creativity.

Keywords:

• El Duende one-canvas
• interim period
• sustained art-making
• art-based research
• tension

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abbe Miller

Abbe Miller, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC, is a Professor in the Graduate Art Therapy Program at Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT.