Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 Coming to the Studio, Going with the Flow: A Study on Artmaking to Enhance Flourishing Jaimie Burkewitz Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL ARTS, THEATRE, AND DANCE COMING TO THE STUDIO, GOING WITH THE FLOW: A STUDY ON ARTMAKING TO ENHANCE FLOURISHING By JAIMIE BURKEWITZ A Thesis submitted to the Department of Art Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Summer Semester, 2014 Jaimie Burkewitz defended this thesis on July 18, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: David Gussak Professor Directing Thesis Marcia Rosal Committee Member Jeffrey Broome Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii AKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my major professor and thesis advisor, Dr. David Gussak for believing in my out-of-the-box ideas and tendency to take on too much. By showing me he believed in my ideas, he also helped me believe in myself. Thanks are also extended to my other committee members Dr. Jeffrey Broome and Dr. Marcia Rosal for being there for the sprint to the finish line. I would also like to thank Dr. Teresa Van Lith for being the first one to hear about this project, and not immediately reject it. I thank my family for their unending support and willingness to talk through the struggles and endless paths I could have taken with this project. I would especially like to thank my father, Bart Burkewitz, for his passion and ability to relate his world of complex dynamic systems to me, and allow an exchange to happen between our fields. Finally, I thank the participants who attended the sessions- without them this study could not have taken place. Their enthusiasm and willingness to "go with the flow" made this study what it was, and made me want to continue to do research within this domain. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ viii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 The Stigma of Therapy for the Higher-functioning Population.................................................2 A Preventative Approach to Therapy ........................................................................................4 Research Questions ....................................................................................................................5 A Brief Definition of Terms ......................................................................................................5 Brief Overview of the Study ......................................................................................................7 Summary ....................................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................10 Flourishing: A Measure of Well-Being ...................................................................................10 The Science of Positive Experience .........................................................................................12 Groundwater: Csikszentmihalyi's Creativity and Flow ...........................................................14 Art Therapy ..............................................................................................................................17 Creativity, Flow, Mindfulness, and Positive Psychology: How They Relate to Art Therapy. 20 How Flow, Mindfulness, Positive Psychology and Art Therapy Relate to Flourishing ..........23 Brain Research and Implications for Efficacy of Art Therapy ................................................25 Summary ..................................................................................................................................26 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS ..................................................................................................27 Interpretivist/Constructivist Paradigm .....................................................................................27 Research Questions ..................................................................................................................30 Research Design.......................................................................................................................30 Procedures ................................................................................................................................31 Summary ..................................................................................................................................35 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS ......................................................................................................36 Research ...................................................................................................................................36 Session Summary .....................................................................................................................40 Quantitative Results .................................................................................................................57 Qualitative Results ...................................................................................................................60 Summary ..................................................................................................................................67 CHAPTER FIVE: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................................68 Art as Prevention......................................................................................................................68 Healthy/Higher Functioning People can Benefit Too ..............................................................69 Breaking Down the Stigma of "Therapy" and Building New Theoretical Constructs ............70 iv Establishing a New Treatment Plan: Theoretical Implications................................................72 Art Provides a Pathway to Flow ..............................................................................................72 Limitations ...............................................................................................................................74 Future Research .......................................................................................................................75 Conclusion ...............................................................................................................................76 APPENDICES A. Session Structure .......................................................................................................................79 B. Scale of Positive and Negative Affect Experience ....................................................................80 C. Flourishing Scale .......................................................................................................................81 D. Informed Consent to Participate in Research Project ...............................................................82 E. Approval Memorandum for Research ......................................................................................84 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................86 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .........................................................................................................89 v LIST OF TABLES 1 Participant Summaries ............................................................................................................38 2 Session Analysis .....................................................................................................................62 3 Frequency of Sessions Voted Most Relaxing, Enjoyable and Challenging............................63 vi LIST OF FIGURES 1 How Everything Relates Back to Flourishing ......................................................................25 2 End of Session Log Sheet .....................................................................................................39 3 Flow Challenges vs. Skills ....................................................................................................40 4 Breath Drawing .....................................................................................................................41 5 Session One Art ....................................................................................................................42 6 Session Two Art ....................................................................................................................47 7 Session Three Art ..................................................................................................................49