Assignment 4 - The Summaries

I decided to look into the field of Art Therapy for my dissertation proposal. I am hoping to relate it to Education as a whole and highlight it's role in a young child's creative development.

The books I have found most helpful so far are : "Art As Healing" by Edward Adamson and "The Secret World Of Drawings: A Jungian Approach To Healing Through Art" by Gregg M. Furth.

Both of my summaries found below inspired me to look into my area of interest even further. I found deepening my knowledge of Art Therapy truly fascinating and I feel positively inspired and exited about my dissertation proposal which, for the time being, is in a draft form.

Both of the publications I used for the summaries below are books, this is mostly because I felt I needed to read more than just an article about my subject, considering how wide it is. I did read articles on my subject as well as books, yet I do not consider any of them sufficient at this level.


Edward Adamson - "Art As Healing".

“Art as Healing” explores the relationship between art practices such as painting, sculpture and sketching and the psychological effects that these have on young children, the mentally ill and the most vulnerable members of our society.

The author, Edward Adamson as an artist himself, challenges us to reconsider what therapy really is and how to use it in order to help to bring out some of the most shameful and difficult thoughts out to then deal with these through psychotherapy. The writer studies many examples from his work experience of over 37 years at the Hospital for mentally ill – Netherne Hospital.

The most vital part of the book is the exploration of numerous examples of drawings, paintings and sculptures that are visual examples of how art therapy affects individuals and how certain symbols being repeated throughout the whole field. Some other important aspects of this publication are: firstly, the layout of mental hospitals and similar institutions which is mentioned a number of times. Secondly, preventive art therapy is explored in the last chapter if the book and it relates to activities for troubled school students and people exposed to stressful and traumatic events at that particular point in their life.

When it comes to the author’s key sources and influences, primarily, it is his almost life time of work as the Art Director at the Netherne Hospital for the mentally ill. From that time, there are many studies made that the author included in the book. A few of these are, for example, explorations of symbolism and the hospital environment as well as particular art techniques used by the patients and their relevance in the recovery process. Furthermore, the writer has a private practice in his own studio in Chelsea and is a curator of a new art gallery near Cambridge which focuses on the works of his art therapy patients.

The most important conclusions the author reaches are how effective non-invasive treatment such as art therapy is in relation to mental illnesses and patients who are most vulnerable to post traumatic stress disorder and personality disorders. Another very important conclusion of the book is how important Art and Design as a school subject is. It is well know that in primary school all pupils are encouraged to participate in creative classes, however as soon as a transition to secondary education is made all efforts to develop the creative side of student’s personally are almost abandoned in order to focus all the attention on so called “real” subjects like Maths, Science or English. The implications of this could be tremendously severe as anger and frustration without a means of being expressed say stored in one’s subconscious waiting for a climax moment of outburst.

As a whole, I found this book truly helpful in gaining a better understanding of the subject of Art Therapy as a whole. Moreover, I appreciate the fact that the relevance of teaching art was mentioned and discussed, which is of great interest to myself. I am certain that in the near future, I will be delighted to look into this publication again to support some of my own views and conclusions.

Ela Bauer

The Research Project is going very well so I thought, I'd post a few bits and pieces about my Jewellery Designer.

Ela Bauer is a jewellery designer based in the Netherlands. Initially, she studied Literature and Indology at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After that she got into the jewellery department at the Technical School in Jerusalem. Her next move was to join the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of fine arts in Amsterdam.

She Graduated in July 1995 at the jewellery department. Since then she's been really busy participating in many diverse projects and exhibitions.

Bauer's work is really organic and at times rather literal. One of the things I admire most about it is the fact that Ela is not afraid to shock her audience as her pieces often relate to slightly unusual sources of inspiration, especially considering that Jewellery is still primarily seen as adornment of the body. I think Bauer is trying to challenge that perception and reinvent some aspects of our specialisation.

I added a few examples of my designer's work; these are most probably my favourite ones so far!

Assignment 3 and Art Therapy

Just a little note to say how exited I am about my dissertation topic and how fantastic the books I managed to find are!

I am still waiting on a few vital books that I have requested and shouldn't take too long to arrive. Also there is a fair amount of articles that could potentially be rather helpful in further research, a few weeks down the line. So far I have not found any that were directly related to the angle I am looking at my topic, art therapy.

Our group meeting that was held a few weeks ago for Assignment 3 has also helped, as it was clear that all of us needed some further discussion about the dissertation topics and areas of interest. The mind map I made initially did not need much alteration although I decided to construct another one anyway. It will be posted up tomorrow after my meeting with an advisor from dyslexia services. The meeting tomorrow concerns proof reading for my dissertation proposal and some further help and advise in relation to Design Studies and my studio Research Project.

Lastly, I have to admit, I am very exited to hopefully have my tutorial with my group soon. We are awaiting an email from our tutor and wish to wait no longer in order to finally get some advise on specific areas of our research and relevant questions relating to our area of interest for the much discussed dissertation proposal.

Dissertation Alert Is Finally On!

This Wednesday all of us, 3rd year Design student have a workshop planned at the DUSA. This is very exiting but unfortunately quite frightening at the same time. Everyone has been talking about our ideas or lack of them in relation to the dissertation topics.

Oh, it is going to be fun fun fun!

Design Group Meetings

Some photographs to document how busy all of us were in preparation for submitting our Wiki assignment. It was very crucial that all of us were present at the meetings as it helped all of us to develop our ideas further. Discussing any possible problems with the group always made it easier to find new solutions and underline hidden problems too. Overall, I consider it a successful method of learning.

Education and Design

Natalia Mazur

Jewellery and Metal Work Design


Education is the process of learning new information, experiences and emotions concerning all aspects of our lives. It starts from the initial moment we are born and lasts all throughout our entire existence. Painter (2009) emphasises:

“During a considerable period in his life, man is helpless and ignorant; he is without the strength and knowledge necessary to maintain an independent existence. It is this fact, that renders education a necessity.”

Education is an ongoing process all living creatures take part in; no one can escape it as it is a natural progression in understanding of the World that we live in, the society we are part of and the greater philosophy behind life in general. Education is one of the most basic human rights. It is a compulsory part of growing up and it is essential in forming our personalities, characters, skills, values and knowledge.

The history of education stars at the very beginning of our civilisation and it is continued, transformed and adapted to the changing times regularly. It is corresponding with all major historical events and it is shaped by the ongoing expansion of the society. Starting in the ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome education has made its way into our day to day lives and created numerous chapters, several for each country and continent depending on their level of development. Gordon and Szreter (1989) highlight:

“Educational history presents numerous points of contact with the whole current of the history of humanity and human interests, and necessarily develops a broad outlook.”

In the preliterate civilisations education was passed on verbally or through mural paintings. It was passed on from one generation to the other but soon after that, this system was classified as insufficient and a new way of sharing information was created – writing. Along with this development, new ways of teaching emerged and education was transferred into specific institutions in the ancient times. Unfortunately, it was only accessible to the rich members of the society who believed that solely boys should be educated, discriminating girls and taking away their chance of gaining a better understanding of the World. This approach changed drastically after the Reformation period during the European Renaissance as Gordon (2009) brings to our attention:

"The call for a universal education and literacy are two fundamental effects of this period on education as we know it today."

From then on education was recommended for both sexes, although the differentiation between female and male students was still appallingly visible. Furthermore, education was practically fully coordinated by the clergy and sponsored by the churches which often did not result in the best outcomes for the poorest students. Following that many European governments started founding of basic and primary education as it was believed that literacy and general knowledge helped in creating a new kind of citizen with full respect for the state’s laws.


In the present times education is one of the most fundamental pillars our society is based on. It is essential for all individuals to further their education to the best of their abilities in order to enhance the development of our culture. Education could be divided into separate institutions where it takes place at: Primary, Secondary and Higher/Further. Each one of these subdivides into more specific groups which are very different from one another at many levels.




The connection between education and design is indisputable and it is almost impossible to think of one without mentioning the other. Education shapes and influences design development and all the same design helps to form new teaching/learning methods and makes us imagine innovative ways of approaching educational techniques. The most important aspects of these disciplines combined are developing new, exciting and effective techniques in teaching design and other subjects at different levels of education. Eastman (2001) makes a very important point:

“The need for innovative designers has never been stronger. Industrial organisations and institutions of higher education alike recognise that as society advances design problems increase in complexity”.

The links between the two specialities are growing stronger minute by minute as the latest researches prove the effectiveness of design techniques applied in education. A valuable example to illustrate this is the use of visual techniques such as art and colour therapy, which originated from design related fields, into the teaching methods of special needs pupils in primary and secondary educational institutions. Rubin (1999) states:

“I am convinced that it is the synergistic potency of the combination of art with therapy which accounts for the extremely rapid growth of this still-young field.”

Another important part of the union of education and design is the use of new technologies in primary and secondary institutions. The relationship between new designs and the ways of teaching traditional subjects is ever changing which opens many possibilities for new designer to enhance the learning experience of often bored and unhappy students. Mixing new technologies can transform learning into an unforgettable experience and maximise the teaching results for both educators and pupils. Moreover, there is a vast amount of inspiration of be found in the actual process of learning design and teaching design. It is a very innovative and controversial subject which could potentially suggest an alternative approach toward educating in general as Eastman (2001) implies:

“Strong links are yet to be forged between pedagogical theory regarding design learning and the science of design itself.”

Design has the potential to change the facade of education for good; it has the means to employ fresh, ‘outside the box’ ideas to all types of education: primary, secondary and higher. Looking into educational systems from a creative thinking perspective enables designers to generate solutions for existing as well as potential teaching problems. Educators and designers working together have the potential of improving the two disciplines by sharing their experiences and developing innovative explanations into the existing programme. A collaboration of education and design could be the future to a more efficient, exiting and valuable teaching and learning experience.

References:



Gordon A. M., Browne K. W., (2007) Beginnings & Beyond: Foundations in Early Childhood `


Gordon P., Szreter R., (1989), History of Education: The Making of a Discipline, Oxon, Routledge



Eastman, C. M., McCracken, W. M., Newstetter, W. C., (2001), Design Knowing and Learning: Cognition in Design Education, Oxford, Elsevier Health Sciences



Franklin, Verzelius, Newton, (2009), A History of Education, Danvers, General Books LLC



Rubin, J. A., (1999), Art therapy: An Introduction, Lillington, Psychology Press

Mind Map, Design Studies 3rd Year