Crafting Life Stories in Photocollage: An Online Creative Art-Based Intervention for Older Adults

Creative arts therapies (CAT) provide a safe and creative environment for older adults to process life experiences and maintain personal growth while aging. There is a growing need to make creative arts therapies more accessible to the aging population, as many have limited access to these services. This need has been catalyzed by the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tele-CAT offers a possible solution. This study explored the experiences of older adults who participated in an online creative process of digital photocollage based on CAT. Twenty-four Italian and Israeli community-dwelling older adults aged 78 to 92 participated in this research through Zoom teleconferencing software. Transcriptions of the sessions and the art produced through the photocollage were qualitatively analyzed through Thematic Analysis. The findings show that the projective stimuli of digital photographs supported older adults’ narratives and engaged them in a more embodied emotional experience. Participant experiences involved artistic enjoyment within a positive and safe interaction with therapists. The creation of digital photocollages allowed the participants to process their life experiences and create an integrative view of their life, a vital developmental task in late life. These results point to the advantages and challenges of tele-CAT for older adults.

A Case Study on the Sri Lankan English Language Learner in the field of Creative Arts

This article reports the findings of a study that investigated the attitudes of creative arts undergraduates and the attitudes and perception of English as a second language (ESL) teachers from different faculties in three Sri Lankan universities about the motivation and proficiency of their students. Employing a qualitative approach in which a 20-item 6- point Likert scale questionnaire and eight (8) item online questionnaire served as the instuments respectively for randomly selected 25 students and the 10 ESL teachers. The results of the study revealed that the undergraduates were aware of the role played by the English language in terms of the potential utility,importance of learning and the potential impact on their future employment.According to the data analysis,the undergraduates in the faculties of medicine and science are motivated than their counterparts in the faculty of creative arts.Differenciations were observerd in terms of independent thinking, enthusiasm for classroom tasks and critical thinking between the same.

Creative Vision and Creative Arts: Significations and Metaphors of Keys in Alex Idoko’s Symbolist Arts

Artistic symbols in many ways act as complimentary narrative tools that elevate and define the message from the artist, which can help to generate efficacious consciousness and mood aggregation in the beholders. The purpose of this study is to deepen the appreciation of the embedded significances of keys as symbolic objects in selected symbolist art by Alex Idoko which represents variously, mystical attributions and significations as understood within different worldviews. Through the application of interpretive discuss approach in relating relevant concepts of symbolism, the study elucidates on the symbolical, mythological, mystical and metaphorical denotations and attributions of chains, padlock and keys in line with Victor Turner’s concept of operational, exegetical and positional meanings. In the end, we observe that the selected work by Idoko subsume deep and dense creative vision projecting deliberate effort in using art as a means of sharing cultural ideas, mystifying aesthetics, propelling curiosity, and mood/emotion intensity.

Brain-Computer Interfaces and Creative Expression: Interface Considerations for Rehabilitative and Therapeutic Interactions

By translating brain signals into new kinds of outputs, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) systems hold tremendous potential as both transformative rehabilitation and communication tools. BCIs can be considered a unique technology, in that they are able to provide a direct link between the brain and the external environment. By affording users with opportunities for communication and self-expression, BCI systems serve as a bridge between abled-bodied and disabled users, in turn reducing existing barriers between these groups. This perspective piece explores the complex shifting relationship between neuroadaptive systems and humans by foregrounding personal experience and embodied interaction as concepts through which to evaluate digital environments cultivated through the design of BCI interfaces. To underscore the importance of fostering human-centered experiences through technologically mediated interactions, this work offers a conceptual framework through which the rehabilitative and therapeutic possibilities of BCI user-system engagement could be furthered. By inviting somatic analysis towards the design of BCI interfaces and incorporating tenets of creative arts therapies practices into hybrid navigation paradigms for self-expressive applications, this work highlights the need for examining individual technological interactions as sites with meaning-making potentiality, as well as those conceived through unique exchanges based on user-specific needs for communication. Designing BCI interfaces in ways that afford users with increased options for navigation, as well as with the ability to share subjective and collective experiences, helps to redefine existing boundaries of digital and physical user-system interactions and encourages the reimagining of these systems as novel digital health tools for recovery.

A hospital’s collaborative arts in health approach to COVID-19

This note from the field outlines how an integrated arts in health department within a hospital created clinical and non-clinical art experiences for patients and providers during COVID-19. Working with a multi-disciplinary team, the Center for Performing Arts Medicine at Houston Methodist established creative arts therapy and arts integration programmes targeting patient and provider experiences during COVID-19. Emphasis is placed on how programmes respond to both physical health and emotional well-being through accessible, appropriate art experiences. This article outlines those strategies and highlights various entry points for arts experiences in a hospital experience during a pandemic.