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Introduction
Full-text copies of select research papers by students having completed our courses of study are available for downloading from this page (click on the icon or mouse-over for abstract text). All papers listed are considered to be of a standard exemplifying the quality of excellence we attempt to pursue here at MIECAT.
The Papers
This research evolved from my consistent interest in the acknowledgement and value of intuition in creative arts therapy, and my desire to be authentic, spontaneous and intuitive in my professional practice. I chose to form an arts-based inquiry that explored how my intuition informed and inspired my creative arts therapy practice, as well as investigated intuition as a valid mode of knowing for both myself and my clients.
As my research developed, it became evident that my most powerful and enduring form of inquiry was art-making. My instruction to myself for the duration of the project was, “Make the art first. Talk later. All the essences that need to be expressed will come out in the making.” By following my natural way of meaning making, I created an arts-based research project, in which the creative process was the major focal point for generating data. I was also guided by the MIECAT form of inquiry, which values experiential, multi-modal knowing, and a focus on the content being embedded in the process.
As a result of fifteen months of arts-based research, I produced an exhibition of the artwork that was the most relevant to my topic, in addition to the exegesis. Having an exhibition was most appropriate to the project, not only because it remained faithful to the creative nature of my inquiry, but also because it allowed for the opportunity for others to experience this research in both a visual and written form.
In the exegesis are the results of my research, both in the written form of a research paper, as well as in visual documentation of the artwork and the resulting exhibition.
Berlingieri, J. (2006) A gathering of small knowings: An artistic inquiry into the experience of using intuition in Creative Arts Therapy. MA by Supervision, MIECAT, Melbourne.
My inquiry was based on three separate moments. Moment one arose from an experience with a friend in crisis, moment two from my art therapy work with a client and moment three from a MIECAT workshop. Moments one and two revealed similar experiences for me about anxiety, being overwhelmed and feeling stuck. Similar patterns and ways of being came to the fore which saw me become the ‘disembodied mind,’ fleeing the present moment.
However, through the strongly improvisational MIECAT process of inquiry I was able to come to an appreciation of my embodied self. The awareness of the embodiment of sense and emotion—the felt-sense of things—brought me then to the here-and-now; the present moment. From there, with that appreciation, I was able to make decisions and act in a way that allowed for more spontaneity.
Moment three then, found me in a different but more mindful place and space. I called it the ‘empty centre’ and my way of being there was much different as a result of the exploration of the previous two movements. I was learning to sit more with uncertainty and the unfamiliar, but in a way that allowed me to be more open to listen to both myself and another.
In all three moments I came to understanding through a process that featured a range of modalities, such as: drawing, enactment, movement, drumming and dramatic dialogue. The inquiry overall was for me highly collaborative and improvisational and it was these elements that brought about the greatest possibilities for surprise and change.
Down, K. (2008) An inquiry into three moments of experiencing. MA by Supervision, MIECAT, Melbourne.
In this paper I present a research inquiry into the experience of improvising in a small group. This group, in which I had been a participant, had been improvising together each week for just over one year prior to this inquiry. Our improvisations had incorporated the use of movement, vocalized sound and text.
The initial data for this inquiry was developed when the research participants (the improvisers) reflected on the question “what was your experience of improvising in the group today?” This reflection took place during a forty-five minute period immediately following an improvisation and was in the form of talking whilst drawing together with crayons on a shared single sheet of paper.
The data was gathered during this form of reflection following three consecutive improvisations. These initial talking-drawing reflections provided the material on which a further four reflective activities were carried out over the next three months. These activities were in the form of a ‘dialogue’ between individual participants and the researcher, the ‘language’ of the dialogue including the expressive modes of drawing, writing, poetry, and collage.
Consequently, seven independent streams of text (one from each of the seven participants) developed from the dialogues. In the latter part of the inquiry these texts were reviewed by the researcher to identify what might be understood about both the content of the inquiry, ‘the experience of improvising’ and the context of the inquiry, ‘the application of MIECAT procedures.’ This paper is the documenting of this inquiry — commencing with the improvisation and finishing with the researcher’s reflections.
Jeynes, K. (2006) The possibilities of the moment: An inquiry into the experience of improvising in a small group. MA by Supervision, MIECAT, Melbourne.
This paper was based on the experience of working as a Creative Arts Therapist in a palliative care setting. It is an auto-ethnographic document based on the values and conceptual underpinnings of the MIECAT form of inquiry. Several intimate moments from my work with dying individuals were represented using ephemeral materials, such as, bubbles and smoke, and materials related to mortality and mourning, such as ash. The understandings that emerged from this work were then applied to my personal life enabling a new acceptance of impermanence, imperfection and incompleteness for myself and for others.
Jones, G. (2008) Visible mending. An inquiry into the experience of impermanence, imperfection and incompleteness. MA by Supervision, MIECAT, Melbourne.