Open Access
Published: March 2020
Issue: Vol.14, No.1
Word count: 4,948
About the author
Imprinted: The use of simple printmaking techniques in arts therapy
Louise Morton
Abstract
This article describes an action research project undertaken as part of my Master of Arts in Arts Therapy (Clinical), which explored the use of simple printmaking techniques within an arts therapy group for young adults. I outline, through session vignettes, participant quotations and discussion, how printmaking in the arts therapy context was experienced by participants. My findings demonstrate that printmaking within a Focusing-Oriented Arts Therapy (FOAT) framework can aid expression of the felt sense and stimulate felt shifts in perspective. These findings showcase the freedom, containment and spontaneity of printmaking, arguing for its inclusion in the toolkit of more arts therapists.
Keywords
Printmaking, FOAT, action research, young adults
Cite this articleMorton, L. (2019). Imprinted: The use of simple printmaking techniques in arts therapy. JoCAT, 14(1). https://www.jocat-online.org/a-19-morton
Introduction
Printmaking is an art form that usually calls to mind complex processes, harsh chemicals, sharp tools and heavy presses – not necessarily things that can or should readily be incorporated into arts therapy. However, in considering simpler printmaking processes (those that require minimal, easy-to-handle tools, non-toxic materials and are printed by hand), it becomes apparent that there is every reason we should be using this versatile, diverse and surprising art form in arts therapy.
In my personal arts practice, printmaking has helped me to express feelings, creatively solve problems and experience myself in new ways, which has led to my faith that printmaking and arts therapy are natural partners. Consequently, I have been surprised by the absence of printmaking in the arts therapy field. There has been some discussion in the literature about printmaking as therapy (Mueller White, 2002; Dean, 2015, 2016), but few case studies and no examples from New Zealand. My master’s research project intended to begin to fill this gap, by showcasing the use of simple printmaking techniques within arts therapy.
I ran an arts therapy group for three young-adult participants which utilised simple forms of printmaking as its primary arts modality within a Focusing-Oriented Arts Therapy (FOAT) (Rappaport, 2009) framework. I sought to investigate how printmaking was experienced in a therapeutic setting by clients, whether it was a meaningful way for them to express their ‘felt sense’, whether it was flexible enough to allow space for the ‘felt shift’, and if it could help facilitate a sense of trust in the process of arts therapy.
The literature
Arts therapy and trust
Arts therapy involves a three-way process between the client, the therapist and the art (Case & Dalley, 2014). Furthermore, art-making is a process in itself – one that involves improvisation, instinct, and responding to the moment. What this requires is trust: in oneself, in others, and in the process (Allen, 1995; Atkins & Eberhart, 2014; McNiff, 1998; Moon, 2008).
The experience of making art within therapy has been compared by Knill, Barba and Fuchs (2004) to entering a liminal or threshold space. Entering this alternative reality requires an opening of the heart and mind to something universal (Atkins & Eberhart, 2014). One must be willing to try, to test, to tolerate, to trust; or as Emanuel (2016) puts it, allow an “informed surrender” to letting the art therapy “do” us (p.588). Knill et al. (2005) mirror this notion with their assertion that poiesis, the act of bringing something new into being that did not exist before, can only occur through one’s surrender to a process that cannot be understood or controlled; a “letting be” must occur for poiesis to take place (p.41).
A client who is new to the world of arts therapy may find it difficult to allow themselves to trust an unknown process, which is why many authors have emphasised the importance of effective modelling of this faith by the therapist (Allen, 1995; McNiff, 2004; Moon, 2008). To trust oneself and the process takes courage, practice, and a robust holding space (Atkins & Eberhart, 2014).
Focusing in arts therapy
Fromm (1956) describes the ability to focus as essential for true engagement in art. Gendlin (1981) also recognises this, finding in his research with Carl Rogers on effective psychotherapy that “every other method works more effectively when focusing is added” (p.65). They found that the people most able to access creative expression are those who focus their attention between their intuitive feel and words/images until they find those which encapsulate the feeling of this intuitive edge of consciousness, which Gendlin termed the ‘felt sense’. Gendlin went on to develop a six-step method of focusing to teach others how to access their inner experience. The core philosophy of focusing is that of a mind–body practice of bringing mindful attention and a welcoming attitude toward one’s felt sense of an issue (Rappaport, 2009).
Rappaport’s (2009) Focusing-Oriented Arts Therapy (FOAT) combines Gendlin’s focusing method with arts therapy. Rappaport calls this partnership a “synergistic integration”, which she has found can lead to profound levels of therapeutic growth (p.17). Gendlin (1991) himself stated that “therapy must involve more than focusing on inner data… there also needs to be a movement outward, into interaction” (p.267). Rappaport’s method uses art as the interaction. In FOAT, visual art conveys the felt sense, documents the ‘felt shift’ or the change that a person experiences through the process (Gendlin, 1981), and carries the experience forward so that the client can integrate it into everyday life.
Printmaking as therapy
The art of printmaking spans a wide range of activities, from the most primitive methods of mark-making to advanced techniques involving chemical processes. It involves methods of layering, pressing, and indenting, and always requires at least two steps before an image is complete (D’Arcy Hughes & Vernon-Morris, 2008). Mueller White (2002), in her seminal resource on printmaking as therapy, outlines four overriding concepts that make printmaking different from other more traditional forms of art used in arts therapy. These include the increased distance that printmaking enforces between the artwork and the artist, making it a useful tool in the reflective process (also highlighted by Dean, 2015); the emphasis on process inherent in printmaking techniques; printmaking’s accessibility to those who might otherwise not succeed in art using traditional media; and the range of printmaking techniques available that can be suited to different needs.
Dean (2016) promotes the use of printmaking in therapy for its quality of unpredictability and the surprise created by never knowing exactly how a print might turn out, which she argues encourages trust in the process. Vesty (2008) supports this idea, writing of the unpredictable nature of printmaking and the spontaneous marks that appear during the process being a source of delight for students with complex disabilities. Dean also points out that the multiplicity created by being able to make many images from the same printmaking plate can be helpful in therapy, as it allows people to create more freely.
The methodology
Action research
This project employed action research, which involves a flexible, spiral process of planning, action and reflection (Dick, 2002). This cyclic process requires the ongoing evaluation of participant responses to interventions, which then help to shape the next actions (Kapitan, 2010). This pragmatic action–reflection cycle enables the experience to become one in which generating new understandings through experiential learning and action is prized (Collie & Cubranic, 1999, cited in Kapitan, 2010), thereby heavily involving the idea of trust in the process, which lay at the heart of this research.
Theoretical underpinnings
My work was grounded in a person-centred, humanistic approach, where the therapist provides a growth-promoting atmosphere and embodies qualities of accurate empathy, congruence and unconditional positive regard, to enable clients to find the resources within themselves to solve problems and bring about healing (Rogers, 1957). A person-centred framework is essential for encouraging the Focusing Attitude (Gendlin, 1981) in both the client and the therapist, which is a foundational part of FOAT (Rappaport, 2009), used as both a theoretical and methodological approach to this research.
Participants
I recruited three female participants for this project: Lisa (a 23-year-old who worked full-time alongside part-time studies), Heather (a 23-year-old student) and Jessica (a 24-year-old in full-time work). Developmentally, individuals in the 18 to 25 age group hover between the last stages of adolescence and the beginnings of adulthood, a period in which psychologist Eric Erikson (1959) describes the primary psychosocial stage being worked through as intimacy vs isolation, or a testing of relationships and levels of closeness with self and others (as cited in Poole & Snarey, 2011, p.601). All three participants came to this project with limited experience in printmaking. They were not required to share certain diagnoses or to have had particular experiences. The group’s focus was to provide an opportunity for participants to experience connection with their internal world through the felt sense, and to express this through art-making. It was hoped that the opportunity for these young adults to connect with and express their felt sense, within a group environment that also gave opportunity to connect with others, might strengthen their self-awareness at this critical juncture.
Data collection and analysis
The group was held weekly for four sessions of 90 minutes each. I planned the first session based on information gained at pre-group interviews, then used the data gathered in each session (artwork, field notes/observations, feedback from participants) in an ongoing process of reflexive analysis during and after each session. This cycle of feedback–action–analysis gave me the opportunity to alter the process to accommodate participants’ changing needs. On conclusion of the group, participants attended further individual interviews, which captured their reflections on the experience as a whole.
In action research, the critical reflection stages of the cycle are essential for analysing the data as the process unfolds (Costello, 2011). As I tidied the studio after each session I took voice recordings to capture my immediate reflections on the group’s process. I then completed more detailed written reflections and made response art. I also spent time dialoguing with the feedback provided by participants and their artworks, to add to my own felt sense of how things had gone. Macintyre (2010) outlines four key terms to apply to the analysis stage: themes, incidence, patterns and trends (as cited in Costello, 2011, p.72). On conclusion of the group, I examined the data collected and applied Macintyre’s schema to illuminate key findings. As well as looking for commonalities across the data, I was looking for the things that were unique to individual participants.
Structure of sessions
In Session One we established a format that the participants requested be continued in subsequent sessions. This format involved coming together for a simple opening ritual, then being guided through a FOAT visualisation, followed by iterations of art-making to express their felt sense and checking the art against their felt sense, an opportunity to share with the group, and a closing ritual. Process feedback was gathered following the closing of the group session.
The directives used in the group were kept very open, intentionally and I would argue appropriately given the short-term nature of the group and participants’ limited experience with art-making processes. A range of printmaking supplies and examples were provided, which were added to each week as I introduced new techniques.
Figure 1. Louise Morton, Studio door, photograph, 210 × 297mm.
Materials included a range of found objects for printing, materials for creating raised relief stamps (cork, tape, glue), supplies for creating indented intaglio stamps (foamboard, foam, thick cardboard and pens), and inks and textural materials for creating monoprints, collagraphs and textural plates. Standard drawing supplies were also available, which the participants were encouraged to use if these more aptly expressed what they wanted to explore or convey. This range of choice allowed participants to use what felt right to express their felt sense, and enabled me to observe which materials the participants were drawn to and their preferred way of interacting with them.
Limitations
This study may be limited in its small scale, both in terms of the number of group sessions held (four) and the number of participants (three group members and one researcher/therapist). Moreover, the participants’ attendance at the group varied, and for some sessions there was only one participant present with the researcher/therapist. While this was unplanned and resulted in less focus being able to be placed on the group aspect of the work, it had the benefit of providing the opportunity to test my approach in a one-to-one therapeutic setting, which added scope to the research.
I was also aware of the presence of personal bias, in that I already had a passion for printmaking and enjoyed FOAT prior to conducting the research. I wondered if this could impact the way I construed data and participant responses. The participants were aware of my interest in these areas and there is a chance that this may have influenced their feedback. I managed these potentialities through triangulation, utilising multiple sources of data in my analysis and reflecting on my own bias within my cyclic reflexive process.
The findings
The relationship between the experiences of the young-adult participants and the literature highlights the experience of printmaking and FOAT as an approach that can facilitate growth
and change. Here I illustrate the findings of my research with personal reflections (in italics), direct participant quotes (in blue italics) and participant artwork.
Printmaking is accessible and enjoyable
A principle of work in expressive arts can be that of “low skill / high sensitivity” (Knill, Levine, & Levine, 2005). The art-making task must be interesting and challenging enough to hold complexity, yet simple enough that it doesn’t require a high level of expertise (Atkins & Eberhart, 2014).
I spend five minutes showing them some printmaking examples, then give them 20 minutes to experiment with some techniques. Both choose the foam stamps and take to this easily without needing further instruction. I notice how immersed they are in this process of exploration. Lisa creates a linked circle design, then plays with found objects, including screwing up some tinfoil and printing this as a stamp. She experiments with two colours on the same block, and voices surprise that nothing turns out as expected. Jessica’s stamp is a swirling ocean-like design which she prints multiple times before cutting her stamp in half and over-printing areas of her piece, giving a layered effect.
It struck me from the first session with the participants just how easy it was for them to choose a technique and start creating. These participants were all new to printmaking and didn’t have a lot of experience with art, yet they were able to pick up the materials and start experimenting after very little instruction.
I found it easy to do, which initially I was worried about because I thought “I haven’t done printmaking before, it looks hard”. – Heather
All participants described printmaking as fun, were engrossed in the process and able to move fluidly through the steps. They all chose to utilise printmaking techniques rather than the standard art materials also available. These findings accord with Dean’s (2015) conclusion that printmaking becomes a source of fascination and challenge. The simple printmaking we engaged in was also described by participants as a relaxing experience when they were nervous (Jessica, Session One) and suffering from anxiety (Heather, Session Four), perhaps due to the safety and structure of a printmaking plate (Mueller White, 2002).
I kind of came in thinking, “oh, I don’t know how to do art, it’s probably going to be really horrible…” and then when I started actually making the print blocks and the actual prints, it’s like the images were almost always not how I envisaged them in my head, but they usually looked quite… good. – Lisa
Printmaking makes it possible for non-artists to quickly experience success. Lisa found that the sessions opened her eyes to new ways of creating and enabled her to experience herself as an artist. Jessica and Heather also described being pleased with the prints they were able to create. This finding aligns with Mueller White’s (2002) positing that the multi-stepped nature of printmaking and the fact that it feels more like a craft helps clients who may be embarrassed or afraid to participate in arts therapy.
Printmaking is freedom
Printmaking lends itself to experimentation. Each printmaking method provides a framework for creation, however the artist can move their process in multiple directions by implementing repetition, changing colours and layering different effects.
We could change things as we were going, and alter them, and then I didn’t care if I made a print and thought it was ugly, I just kept going. – Heather
McNiff (1998) writes about the opportunity for freedom of expression and wide range of possibilities offered by monoprinting. Heather’s and Lisa’s exploration of monoprints provided striking examples of the spontaneity and freedom inherent in this method. Heather described it as a process of working and reworking her image on the plate, and discussed her enjoyment at being able to cover over “mistakes” and re-create them as something new. Lisa, too, described a sense of freedom, which helped her to work through an issue and come to new understandings.
I think printmaking is really good in that you can kind of do one thing then add another thing on, then add another thing on… you don’t need to have a finished product in mind before you start. – Lisa
Often the participants would utilise methods that I hadn’t suggested. This sense of exploration was particularly evident during Session Two, when the participants experimented with
textured materials to create collagraph plates. There was a sense of play and experimentation across all sessions.
Printmaking can express the felt sense
Both Jessica and Lisa found the FOAT visualisations challenging to begin with, but noticed they became easier over time.
Definitely the visualisations were the hardest part in the sense of… confronted-ness; the art itself was way better because you could just focus on just doing the art, and the physicality of it. – Jessica
They also both described having minimal experience with paying attention to feelings, which may have contributed to the initial challenge.
I enjoy that reflective time, but I often just don’t set aside time for it. So I really liked that, it was kind of like going through my brain and I felt like I was sort of organising my brain. – Lisa
The participants were all able to move fluidly from a FOAT visualisation to creating art to represent their felt sense, and all shared that their finished prints were a good representation of this. Despite standard art supplies being available, they chose to use various printmaking techniques.
I invite them to express the felt sense of the ‘all fine place’ through art. Lisa employs a piece of cardboard which she presses into the ink, then onto her page to create a straight line. She cuts a piece of foam into two circles and prints them in red, then creates a new tinfoil stamp to print a white pattern around the outside. Her ‘marble hallway’ is complete.
Lisa noted that the printmaking process enabled her to slow down and see her artwork unfold as a series of components arranged together, rather than as a clearly defined image from the start. She expressed that the multi-stepped nature of printmaking helped her to clarify and understand her felt sense.
Following a FOAT ‘check-in’ to gain a sense of how we are feeling, Jessica creates a little hen plate from impasto medium and shares that she identified this as her felt sense symbol. After checking in with her felt sense to ask what it needs, she makes a field of grass, again using a cork stamp in a repetitive pattern, and shares that it felt good to be able to create a contained field of grass for her hen.
Jessica shared that the textural nature of the printmaking processes, and their ability to be layered made them especially satisfying media through which to explore and express her felt sense.
Figure 2. Jessica, Field, cork-stamp and found-object print, 210 × 297mm.
Printmaking can facilitate the felt shift
Gendlin’s (1981) description of the felt shift as an actual manifestation of change occurring in the body and mind was affirmed by what I was able to observe in the artwork of every participant, and what they themselves observed.
The process of making it I thought helped me to figure out what was going on in my head. – Lisa
Figure 3. Lisa, Critical voice, monoprints, 210×297mm.
In Session Four, Lisa created three monoprints about self-image, following a related FOAT visualisation. The directive for her art-making was to represent how she sees herself now, how she would like to see herself, and a small step in the right direction. She created a blue-grey base layer representing the strength and clarity she would like to embody more often, and covered this over with textures and colours to represent where she feels she is at now (clouded by a self-critical voice). Her “small step forward” image contains the field of clarity with a minimal amount of red texture layered over the top (Figure 3). Through this process she not only recognised what it is that “clouds” her mind, but also her resources: she reflected that the blue/grey layer of strength is always there, but it gets hidden by the self-critical thinking. Again the multi-stepped, layered process helped her to come to this understanding, and the physical nature of monoprinting helped to create a visceral link to her felt sense and how this shifted during the process. Lisa also noted that her thinking around this issue became clearer when she started talking to me about her process, affirming Rappaport’s (2009) assertion that verbal interaction can help the client to recognise the shift.
I do like how we could layer it, so it could kind of show more than one feeling, or confusion, or later thoughts that I had during the process… – Heather
Monoprinting was experienced as being particularly effective at capturing this felt shift, due to its fluidity and the ability the artist had to continue to manipulate the ink on the plate after pulling an initial print. Monoprints have been considered a “natural way of working due to the viscous quality of the ink and its glorious uncontrollability, which provides an experience of unequalled immediacy” (Nissen, 2008, p.17). Heather shared that she found this to be the perfect medium for connecting with feelings of anger and confusion related to a traumatic event.
She spends some time immersed in her monoprinting process, experimenting with different methods to create a series of prints. I notice that the kinaesthetic action of the rolling of ink seems to provide her with an energy release. She incorporates found objects and cork stamps. She comments on how easy it is to alter the prints as she goes along, by changing the colours and patterns on the plate or by overprinting to cover areas of the printed image.
Heather noticed that her prints were becoming progressively darker as she worked through her feelings, and was able to make a conscious choice to not let herself go too deeply into that darkness, as she felt this would not be useful. Instead, she added white to lighten her print, and returned to natural symbols which were a source of strength for her (Figure 4). In this way the monoprints became a container for her strong emotions and allowed her a sense of control, which might be particularly empowering for a trauma survivor (Herman, 1992; Steele & Malchiodi, 2012).
Figure 4. Heather, Stress to safety, monoprints, 180 × 280mm.
Printmaking provides reflective distance
Lisa made a collagraph plate in Session Two to express the felt sense of her week, then returned to this plate to print it two weeks later (once it had dried), in Session Four. She said she had enjoyed the process of making the plate, as she was feeling stressed out and it gave her a chance to reflect on what was causing this stress and what she needed.
She reflects on the changes in her life since she made this plate, remembering the stressful week she had been having and how she has represented all the things she felt she had to do and manage as well as the rewards that she knew would come from the stress.
When she came to print this plate, after some time had passed, she noted that the section of the plate containing the stress printed faintly, while the section representing all the good things to come printed boldly (Figure 5).
It was a bit of a relief, because I had made it when I was feeling quite stressed out during that week, then when I went back to it this week, it’s like, a lot of things have gotten clearer for me, so I’m looking it and going “well, phew, that’s over (mostly)”. – Lisa
Figure 5. Lisa, My week, collagraph plate and prints, 150×150mm.
This example shows how the different stages of printmaking are equally important: in the first instance (creating the plate), for expressing emotions/issues and in the second (printing the plate), for viewing these from a new angle with increased distance. A third stage is then possible, where multiple prints are created from the plate and are able to be altered, cut away from and layered in an exploration of possibilities. Mueller White (2002) extrapolated that this increased distance may be particularly useful for survivors of trauma, as it gives them a sense of separateness from the original plate, thus affording them a level of safety from painful content. It also enables them to slow down, engage with the process and even control violent imagery (Mueller White, 2002).
Printmaking aids trust
Mueller White (2002) says about printmaking that “there is a lack of control and a sense that the process itself creates some of the resulting artwork, and that can be frustrating but enormously freeing” (p.20). There is always an element of not knowing how a print will turn out, which provides the artist with a sense that the process is as much a part of the final print as they are.
Interestingly, printmaking processes were able to be utilised by the group participants to suit their individual needs. Those who needed more safety were able to achieve this through their choice of technique, and those who felt more comfortable used the printmaking processes as a vehicle for surprise.
I observed Lisa’s delight when, while monoprinting, the way she had mixed the colour on the plate resulted in an ‘eye’ appearing in the centre of her prints. While unintended, she noted that this matched the feeling she was going for. The participants all commented on enjoying the surprise of the finished print, and Lisa said this made the process more interesting for her. My observation was that these kinds of experiences within the therapeutic context helped clients relinquish expectations or control and surrender to the delight in the process, something which McNiff (1998) argues can aid them to open themselves to new ways of being and develop a sense of trust in the bigger picture.
I figured out what the image was as I made the print, it became clearer to me as I made it, and then in the end I came up with something that actually is sort of like what I would have wanted to have imagined right at the start. – Lisa
Lisa reflected that she found it hard to visualise a specific image in her head. When we came to the art-making section of each session, she would start with a vague idea of what she was trying to create, this image became clearer as she was making it, and she could then re-work it until it fitted her felt sense. She learned to relinquish expectation about what her finished print would look like and instead let the creative process guide her. Heather also noted that she found printmaking an “intuitive approach”, and she liked having the freedom to alter her prints and not worry about “mistakes” along the way.
Every time I went into it I had a specific vision and I pretty much accomplished how I wanted it. – Jessica
By contrast, Jessica had noticed my encouragement to “see what happens”, yet maintained a planned approach to her creating during both of the sessions she attended. She usually made relief stamps, which she printed repeatedly to create large fields of texture. I wondered if this repetition gave her a sense of safety or control. She also shared that she stayed away from techniques she saw as too “unpredictable”. This sense of needing to keep herself safe might also be seen in the content of her artwork: she depicted a pine-needle nest as her ‘all fine place’, and a fenced-in, contained field to show what she was needing right then. It would have been interesting to see whether these themes changed over a longer timeframe, as she became more comfortable with me and the group.
Conclusion
The findings of this research indicate that the use of simple printmaking and FOAT in arts therapy can be an enriching and transformative activity. Printmaking has been found to possess the ability to encourage containment of emotion, spontaneity and surprise, trust in the process, and reflective distance.
The experiences I encountered during this research deepened my appreciation for the art of printmaking, and expanded my ideas on how it might skilfully be used in a therapeutic milieu to suit a wide range of client needs. My overall impression of the group was an atmosphere of experimentation and presence to what arrived. When printmaking is employed in conjunction with FOAT, the textural nature of its processes created a visceral link to the felt sense and the felt shift. As suggested in the literature, the medium also offered room for containment and structure when this was needed. The space gave participants a sense of peace and centering, which allowed them to focus and, as Lisa put it, to “organise” their thoughts. This was able to be achieved in a person-centred framework in which participants were encouraged to view any expression as valuable and worthy of attention.
Printmaking lends itself to experimentation and a sense of wonder. Its power to encourage spontaneous imagery is still new for art therapists, and something that would benefit from further research. Likewise, the value of printmaking as a safe container for intense emotions warrants additional exploration, perhaps with survivors of trauma. Printmaking in arts therapy is a truly exciting area, inspiring in its potential, with much more yet to be discovered.
Ethics
Informed consent was obtained from the three participants to share information in this article, including artworks and direct quotes. Pseudonyms have been used to protect their privacy. Ethics approval for this research to be undertaken was obtained from Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design.
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Author
Louise Morton
BA, PgDipTchg(Primary), MAAT(Clin)(Hons), AThR
Louise is a Wellington-based arts therapist who works in private practice, predominantly with survivors of trauma. She has a background in primary school teaching, inpatient mental health and sexual abuse support work. A keen printmaker, she has a special interest in the use of printmaking as a therapeutic tool, both for clients and within professional processing. Louise completed her Master of Arts in Arts Therapy at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design in 2018.