Exploring Creative Self-Expression Through Mindful Collage
The Healing Power of Collage Art in Individual and Community Settings
Promotional Collage Image for BA Thesis Workshop
The original question I sought to answer by creating my BA project was “How Can Mindful Collage-Making in a Community Setting Impact Mental Health?” To answer this query, I created a community workshop, Exploring Creative Self-Expression Through Mindful Collage, which blends traditional public art activities with group therapy concepts to offer a unique community experience for learning about mindfulness, cultivating self-awareness through a variety of expressive means, and fostering supportive interpersonal exchanges to encourage a positive forward mindset.
I was inspired to create a community art workshop based in the success I have discovered through methods of mindfulness and expressive collage art, using the psycho, social, and behavioral knowledge I have learned through 5 years of therapy, practice, and personal study. I wanted to better understand the intuitive processes I developed, and how I could relay my wisdom and philosophies to aid in others’ lives. Although a multifaceted inquiry, I was confident I could determine an answer through research into established art therapy techniques and my lived experience as someone who has personally benefited from practicing mindfulness, collage art, and participating in group therapy dynamics for the purposes of healing from mental illness, specifically C-PTSD, treatment-resistant depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and other incapacitating symptoms of trauma and grief.
Therapeutic Qualities of Collage in Art Therapy
Moreover, I understood from experience the void of loneliness and alienation felt by those struggling with mental distress during the Covid-19 lockdowns; and frustrated with the effects of social distancing protocols which exacerbated mental illness, I wanted to curate my own space where adults could form healthy connections based in collective, authentic, and vulnerable self-expression in a secure environment. To impart maximal psychological insight and tools within the limited context of a 1-time workshop, I wanted to expand the casual idea of mindfulness and apply it pragmatically within a creative context alongside other therapeutic concepts relating to a state of deeper awareness.
For this, I assembled key concepts extracted from therapeutic modalities, specifically the Mindfulness module of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), my experience in DB group therapy, and individual psychological-depth therapy, which have together been beneficial to me in my own healing journey. From the DBT module I considered the concepts of radical acceptance, grounding, intrusive thoughts, and wise mind which are practices to bring awareness of the present state, letting go of outside distractions or judgements, and focusing and calming the body and self (Skylandtrail, Accepting Reality Using DBT Skills.)
These practices inspired the lecture I gave during the workshop, and the mindfulness meditations I led with the group at the beginning and end. The lecture and meditations helped participants be physically and emotionally more engaged in the space, relaxed, and ready for other activities (Girija, Ray, Muniz.) I confirmed my understanding of mindfulness concepts by cross-referencing articles from Verywellmind.com where I created my own version of a Body-Scan Meditation, and Loving-Kindness Meditation (Scott.)
To connect theory with expressive collage-making, I researched art therapy methods and learned of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy (MBAT) where my personal mindfulness collage philosophies about the links and benefits between creating collage art and healing purposes were confirmed by scientific study (Treating Personal Trauma with Art.) I deepened my understanding of art therapy by learning how expressive collage art can decrease distress, increase creativity, facilitate personal growth and awareness, and create autonomy and positive self-regard, especially for traumatized populations (Collins.)
Links Between Trauma and Collage in Art Therapy
Extending expression beyond the visual or creative, I also created mindful journaling “self-check-in” sheets where participants could practice mindful thinking, intentionality, and informed reflection on their experiences in the workshop immediately before collaging, after, and several weeks later, at home. The importance of mindful writing was conveyed to me both through my own years of experience, and by influential author and lecturer Dr. Jordan B. Peterson (Jordan Peterson on Writing) who created a “Self-Authoring” program for people to journal extensively about their past, present, and future, with his research showing the success of mindful journaling and intentionality (Self-Authoring Suite, selfauthoring.com.)
With this knowledge, I ultimately generated three types of mindful collage practices for mindful self-expression: Subconscious-Intuitive, Intentional Processing, and Vision Board. Based in my depth-therapy experiences of the subconscious, intuition, synchronicity, and MBAT ideas of intentionality, creating autonomy, and restoration (Morin) I showed how through making collage art with mindful awareness, one could aid in healing many forms of distress. I made my own collage samples to engage in the healing process and demonstrate how collage could be used to better understand the self, holistically.
Subconscious-Intuitive Collage Sample
The Subconscious-Intuitive collage used intuitive association between found materials and inner subconscious feelings and ideas of the participant to create a collaged representation of one’s underlying present situation while in a flow state, allowing for later psychoanalysis of the collage to gain clarity and self-understanding.
Intentional Processing Collage Sample
The Intentional Processing collage encouraged an exploration of self through materials to work through a specific problem, question, event, or issue, typically a reframed or self-accepting representation of the past.
Vision Board Collage Sample
Finally, the Vision Board collage used cut-out text and imagery to construct a visual picture of one’s desired future, with intentional goals and dreams for the potential self and life. All methods provided ways to gain mental and emotional lucidity, release stress, express through visual language, and create an autonomous framing of one’s life journey.
Stages of Collage in Art Therapy
To complete the triad of self-expression, along with visual collage and written journaling, I allowed ample time for every participant to verbally share with the group about their collages, and by extension, themselves. I emphasized the importance of active listening and curious, but non-judgmental feedback from group members as we had a roundtable discussion during and after collaging. Sharing experiences with others in a supportive and accepting environment helped people to feel seen, understood, and connected, reducing feelings of loneliness, and creating a shared community and purpose.
With these resources, ideas, and methods, I was able to construct the framework for my workshop, but I still needed help to organize the experience. I sought guidance from my BA Project professor James Charles, and Community Art professor, Raoul Deal. Both gave suggestions for community partner contacts, which eventually helped me secure The Lynden Sculpture Garden and Milwaukee Mindfulness Community Center as spaces to host the workshop.
Lynden Sculpture Garden
Milwaukee Mindfulness Center
After the completion of the project and holding 2 workshops, I determined that the workshop’s effects were precisely what I had intended for the endeavor. Participants gave overwhelmingly positive feedback during and after both workshops, enjoying the collaging experience, having gratitude for the supportive group atmosphere, and praising the organization, structure, and mere existence of the workshop. The group were enthusiastic about blending mindfulness and psychological healing concepts with collage art, especially in a cooperative environment. Members reported feeling relaxed, happy, supported, empathetic, grateful, and positive about all activities, especially having an enriching space to create art together after isolation from Covid.
Participants at Workshop #1
Participants at Workshop #2
I was moved by the tremendous gratitude towards the group as a community, and it reified my beliefs about the healing power of mindful collage art. I was personally amazed and appreciative of the warm and encouraging response I received during and after the workshops of my leadership skills, “kind and empathetic” demeaner, creativity, and complimentary remarks about my vulnerability, authenticity, and ideas. As I created a collage each time with the group, I too felt the spirit of the experience and it vastly benefited my mental health and self-worth.
The experience of ideating an abstract and idealized notion of a community art workshop based mostly in my scattered personal philosophies and developing it into an effective real-world event was a seminal effort in the culmination of my skills, and a practice of overcoming my flaws, namely, insecurity and depression, primary reasons I turned to mindfulness and collage art in my life to begin with. This project showed that there is a market and need for these types of accessible healing art experiences, and that they can be impactful to people in a variety of ways.
This project gave me confidence as a community artist, and individual on my healing journey, that my ideas and unique formulation of chaos has value and is appreciated. I used my confidence from this experience to start my career within the healing arts as an experimental art therapist at a psychiatric hospital after graduation, where I will lead group art activities to promote awareness and accompany the concepts patients learn in clinical psychotherapy. I have been truly moved by this project and inspired to share my experiences, however vulnerable, within art and the community going forward. I plan to create a Facebook page dedicated to mindful collage where a community can be formed around mindful collage art as a resource, and where I can plan and lead more workshops in the future.
Participant Collage #1
Participant Collage #2 (Gender Transition, FTM)
Participant Collage #3 (Vision Board About Moving to Ideal Home)
Participant Collage #4
Participant Collage #5 (15 Year Old Girl)
Participant Collage #6 (Gratitude)
Participant Collage #7 (Connection with Nature)
Participant Collage #8 (Healing from Chronic Pain)
Bibliography
Collins, Cole, Putting the Pieces Together: Collage as a Mode of in the Treatment of Trauma, collageresourcenertwork.wordpress.com, May 29, 2020, Web. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://collageresearchnetwork.wordpress.com/2020/05/29/putting-the-pieces-together-collage-as-a-mode-in-the-treatment-of-trauma/
Girija Kaimal, Kendra Ray & Juan Muniz (2016) Reduction of Cortisol Levels and Participants' Responses Following Art Making, Art Therapy, 33:2, 74-80, Published Online May 23, 2016, Web. Accessed March 26, 2022. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07421656.2016.1166832
Jordan Peterson on Writing, Youtube.com, Gale Pooley, November 15th, 2018. Web. Accessed February 23, 2022,
Morin, Amy, The Benefits of Mindfulness-Based Art Therapy, verywellmind.com, July 16, 2021, Web. Accessed February 22, 2022, https://www.verywellmind.com/mindfulness-based-art-therapy-4588189
Scott, Elizabeth, Body Scan Meditation, Release Tension with this Targeted Meditation Technique, verywellmind.com, September 13, 2021, Web, Accessed March 26, 2022, https://www.verywellmind.com/body-scan-meditation-why-and-how-3144782
Scott, Elizabeth, How to Practice Loving-Kindness Meditation, verywellmind.com, February 11, 2020, Web, Accessed March 26, 2022, https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-practice-loving-kindness-meditation-3144786
Self-Authoring Suite, selfauthoring.com, 2022, Web, accessed February 23, 2022,
Skylandtrail, Accepting Reality Using DBT Skills, skylandtrail.org, October 28, 2019, Web. Accessed March 26, 2022, https://www.skylandtrail.org/accepting-reality-using-dbt-skills/#:~:text=DBT%20Skill%3A%20Radical%20Acceptance&text=Radical%20acceptance%20is%20when%20you,in%20a%20cycle%20of%20suffering
Treating Personal Trauma with Art | Dr. Bruce Moon, Youtube.com, Healthy Human Revolution, August 30th, 2021, Web. Accessed February 23, 2022,