A Somatic Mindfulness Project Exploring the Effects of Meditation
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A SOMA TIC MINDFULNESS PROJECT EXPLORING THE EFFECTS OF MEDITATION ON ART APPRECIATION IN THE GALLERY SETTING Merfat Mohammed M. Bassi Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2019 APPROVED: Tyson Lewis, Major Professor Laura Evans, Committee Member Joris Vlieghe, Committee Member Matthew Bourbon, Committee Member Denise Baxter, Chair of the Department of Art Education and Art History Greg Watts, Dean of the College of Visual Arts and Design Victor Prybutok, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Bassi, Merfat Mohammed M. A Somatic Mindfulness Project Exploring the Effects of Meditation on Art Appreciation in the Gallery Setting. Doctor of Philosophy (Art Education), December 2019, 244 pp., 16 figures, 4 appendices, references, 206 titles. This dissertation describes the effects of a somatic mindfulness project on the way participants interact with and respond to works of art in a gallery setting. The study begins with a critique of Descartes’ philosophy, Cartesianism, which emphasizes the role of the mind over that of the body and senses and argues that this thought continues to affect education even today. By contrast, phenomenology and mindfulness practices attempt to overcome Descartes’ legacy by focusing on the importance of the body in lived experience. In particular, this study uses a phenomenological framework to conduct mindfulness on the relationship between the body and the perception of art. To do so, I utilized several phenomenological techniques for gathering data, including observations, video, and interviews, and I also created a unique method to analyze the data using a phenomenological verbal (written) description and visual (through photographic paintings) description. These techniques worked together to express the moment of reversibility between the meditative body and the artworks in the gallery setting. In sum, the findings of this study show that meditation changes the perceptual experience for different people in different ways. Another finding is that different forms of meditation may work better for some people than others. The findings of this study suggest that if art teachers are interested in using meditation, they need to be familiar with multiple forms of meditation. Also, they need to consider the role of the environment, as well as that of the artworks, in creating a wholistic meditative mood. Copyright 2019 by Merfat Mohammed M. Bassi ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express her deep sense of gratitude to the following persons for the assistance extended by them: To Dr. Tyson Lewis, my major professor, for his sincere guidance, expertise, untiring cooperation, valuable advice, and endless inspiration that enabled me to accomplish this research and overcome the problems I faced during the process of writing this research study. To Dr. Laura Evans, Dr. Joris Vlieghe, and Professor. Matthew Bourbon, committee members, for providing their support, comments, suggestions, and encouragement. To Brett Wallace for leading the meditation session of the somatic mindfulness workshop with my participants. To my participants for working with me in the somatic mindfulness workshop and sharing their lived experience of this study. To Jeffrey Rasch and Kathleen Prowell for providing their advice and assistance to develop the academic writing of this research study. To my great parents for encouraging me in my academic journey and for supporting me to reach my goals by asking me to persevere in hard work. To my lovely family for supporting me in the difficult times that have faced me in the graduate study stage. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Questions and the Outlines ...................................................................... 4 1.3.1 Main Research Questions ........................................................................... 4 1.3.2 Sub-Research Questions ............................................................................. 4 1.3.3 The Outline of the Study ............................................................................. 5 1.4 Assumptions of the Study ....................................................................................... 8 1.5 Rationales ................................................................................................................ 9 1.6 Operational Definitions ......................................................................................... 10 1.7 Summary ............................................................................................................... 13 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ....................................................................... 14 2.1 What Is Cartesianism? .......................................................................................... 14 2.1.1 The Philosophy of Descartes .................................................................... 14 2.1.2 The Limitation of Descartes’ Philosophy and the Cartesian Model ......... 15 2.2 Phenomenology of the Body ................................................................................. 17 2.2.1 The Theoretical/Analytical Approach ....................................................... 17 2.2.2 The Pragmatic Approach .......................................................................... 26 2.2.3 The Practical Approach............................................................................. 46 2.3 Summary ............................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY: PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH METHODS ......... 59 3.1 Outline of a Good Phenomenological Description ............................................... 60 3.1.1 First-Person Perspective............................................................................ 61 3.1.2 Intentionality ............................................................................................. 62 3.1.3 Phenomenological Description ................................................................. 63 3.2 A Discussion of My Role as a Phenomenological Researcher ............................. 68 iv 3.3 Data Collection Procedure .................................................................................... 70 3.3.1 The Description of the Phenomenological Qualitative Methods .............. 71 3.3.2 The Structure of the Somatic Mindfulness Workshop .............................. 72 3.4 Data Analysis Procedure ....................................................................................... 75 3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................... 79 CHAPTER 4. PERSONAL PHENOMENOLOGICAL NARRATIVE ....................................... 80 4.1 Description of My Own Experience ..................................................................... 80 4.1.1 Description of the Greater Denton Arts Council (GDAC) Site ................ 81 4.1.2 Who I am/was as a Phenomenological Researcher................................... 82 4.1.3 How I Observed the Visitors in the GDAC Site ....................................... 86 4.1.4 The Interview with the Expert – Brett Wallace ........................................ 91 4.1.5 The Guided Meditation with Art-Appreciation and Art-Making Sessions92 4.2 Summary ............................................................................................................... 97 CHAPTER 5. DATA COLLECTION: SOMATIC MINDFULNESS PROJECT (SMP) ........... 99 5.1 Somatic Mindfulness Workshop ........................................................................... 99 5.2 Preparing for the Somatic Mindfulness Workshop ............................................... 99 5.2.1 Description of the Gough Gallery ........................................................... 102 5.2.2 Description of the Structured Light Exhibition by Colby Parsons ......... 103 5.2.3 The Structured Light’s Artworks ............................................................ 103 5.3 The Structure of the Somatic Mindfulness Workshop ........................................ 104 5.3.1 First Day: Before Meditation (Pre-Meditation Practices) ....................... 104 5.3.2 Second Day: After Meditation (Post-Meditation Practices) ................... 111 5.3.3 Third Day: After Meditation (Post-Meditation Practices) ...................... 119 CHAPTER 6. SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT/DISSCUSSION ............................................. 125 6.1 Collaboration between the Personal Meaning-Making and the Social Meaning- Making ................................................................................................................ 125 6.2 Before Meditation (Pre-Meditation Practices): The First Day ........................... 125 6.3 After Meditation (Post-Meditation Practices): The Second Day ........................ 134 6.4 After Meditation (Post-Meditation