Date of Award

Spring 5-21-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

MA - Master of Arts

Department

Expressive Therapies

Advisor

Donna C Owens

Abstract

Craft has a diverse application history, from making bracelets at summer camp to making clothes for a family. This variety of uses offers a higher opportunity for exposure to this type of art-making. It is crucial to consider familiarity in art-making to implement effective treatment that recognizes client experience and meets them where they are. Expressive arts therapy does not often include craft art. It could be beneficial for the field of expressive therapies to evaluate the therapeutic potential of craft art, given craft art’s cultural and social prominence. This study explores the therapeutic value of craft art within exploring identity, which is crucial in social justice-based practice. In exploring the current literature on craft art, researchers primarily focus on integrating craft art for the tactile experience of creation and stress management. This inquiry explores these prominent research findings and examines the literature involving craft art usage with more specific cultural populations and cultural craft art practice. This more culturally specific literature questioned and explored the overall creative value of craft art in self-expression, community building, and cultural transmission. This examination highlighted that craft art might require a particular skill or mastery to create. However, there is also an opportunity to explore the potential of craft art’s connections to identity through accessibility, engagement in the process of making, perseverance in learning a skill, individual expression/choice despite a specific overall end product, representations of cultural heritage, pride in completion attributing to positive self-esteem, and community building.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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