Emerging from and enriching the field of qualitative inquiry, arts-based research values the creative process as a way of knowing. Arts-based researchers employ diverse artistic media in the exploration, examination, and expression of human experiences. Arts-based inquiries may incorporate visual arts, music, dance or movement, and theater as qualitative data. These artistic media may also be utilized in the depiction of the researcher’s inquiry process, as well as being employed as a nonverbal mode of data interpretation and presentation.

The Arts-Based Research Archive is dedicated to providing online access to articles, dissertations, theses, and references related to the broad spectrum of arts-based research, particularly those qualitative studies that draw on human imagination and the arts to penetrate transformative experiences which may remain ineffable and inaccessible to verbal description and linear cognition.

Archive organized and created by

Jessica Bockler, Ph.D., Founding Director, Alef Trust, UK and

Dorit Netzer, Ph.D., Research Faculty,  Sofia University, USA; Assistant Adjunct Professor of Art Therapy, Hofstra University, USA

The organizers and creators of this archive have secured permission from authors to make their writings available as digital resources when copyright permits. Related books and book chapters listed below are available in libraries and at online and local bookstores.

 

Articles

  • Beech, H. F. (2015). Songwriting and transformation: The subjective experience of sharing self through song. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 187–201. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34 (1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/24
  • Freinkel, P. D. (2015). Singing and participatory spirituality. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 152–166. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). [pdf]
  • Herman, L. (2015). Transpersonal space/time through the arts. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 111–123.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/16
  • Linder, J. (2015). Exploring soul loss through arts-based research. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 144–151.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/20 [pdf]
  • Linton, M. (2015). Altered states of consciousness and creative expression. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 98–102.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34 (1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/14
  • Lipschultz, G. (2015). Of the world that freely offers itself: An exploration of writerly/artistic rituals. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 202–210. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/25
  • McIver, K. (2015). Clay as a spiritual practice. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 87–89.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/11
  • Mellick, J. (2015). Japan dreaming. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 90–93.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34 (1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/12
  • Meyer, D. (2012). Interpreting along the deckled edge, the artist’s place in leadership. Integral Leadership Review, October 2012.  [pdf]
  • Meyer, D. (2015). The lost dialogue of artists: Negotiating the conjuring of art. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, Vol.43(1-2), pp. 70-82. [pdf]
  • Meyer, D. (2015). Connecting to the sacred through contemplative gaze. The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, Vol. 43(1-2), pp. 83-86. [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2009). From linear to imaginal: Choosing research methods to inform art therapy practice. Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 26(1). [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2013). Intention, direction, action: Inspiring integral leadership through process-oriented, imagery-based learning. Integral Leadership Review, 13(2). [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2014). Awareness of spiritual freedom through imaginal response to mystical poetry: An intuitive inquiry. SAGE Research Methods Cases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013505060 [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2014). Imaginal resonance: Imagery and creative expression in qualitative research. SAGE Research Methods Cases. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305013510243 [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2015). Mystical Poetry and Imagination: Inspiring Transpersonal Awareness of Spiritual Freedom. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2). [pdf]
  • Netzer, D. (2015). Inquiry and imagination: Transformation in the process of a doctoral dissertation. International Journal of Healing and Caring, 15(1). [pdf]
  • Netzer, D., & Chang, M. (2015). Art-based organic inquiry: Creative expression with natural materials. SAGE Research Methods Cases. [pdf] DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305015602455
  • Netzer, D., & Rowe, N. (2010). Inquiry into creative and innovative processes: An experiential, whole person approach to teaching creativity. Journal of Transformative Education 8(2). [pdf]
  • Questel, E. (2015). Alchemy series. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 94–97. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/13
  • Rowe, N., & Netzer, D. (2012). Designing structures for transformation: Facilitating transformative-learning through transpersonal ways of knowing. Conference proceedings, 10th International Conference on Transformative Learning, A Future for Earth: Re-Imagining Learning for a Transforming World. San Francisco, CA. [pdf]
  • Salom, A. (2015). The art of observation and experience. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 103–110.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/15
  • Schavrien, J. (2015). Transpersonal art—Does it bite? International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1-2), 211–214. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 34(1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol34/iss1/26

 

Additional Resources

  • Bickel, B., & Hugill, T. (2011). Re/Turning to her: an a/r/tographic ritual inquiry.
  • Brown, J. (2008). The inward path: Mysticism and creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 20 (4), 365-375.
  • de Jager, A., Tewson, A., Ludlow, B., & Boydell, K. (2016, May). Embodied ways of storying the self: A systematic review of body-mapping. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research 17(2).
  • Elliott, B. (2011). Arts-based and narrative inquiry in liminal experience reveal platforming as basic social psychological process. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 38(2), 96-103.
  • Hart, T. (2000). Transformation as process and paradox. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 32 (2), 157-164.
  • Herman, L. (2005). Researching the images of evil events: An arts-based methodology in liminal space. Qualitative inquiry, 11(3), 468-480.
  • Kaplan, M. A. (2005). Transpersonal dimensions of the cinema. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 37(1), 9-20.
  • Kieft, E. (2014). Dance as a moving spirituality: A case study of Movement Medicine. Dance, Movement & Spiritualities, 1(1), 21-41.
  • Kossak, M. S. (2009). Therapeutic attunement: A transpersonal view of expressive arts therapy. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 36(1), 13-18.
  • McCarthy, M. (2013). Children’s Spirituality and Music Learning: Exploring Deeper Resonances with Arts Based Research. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 14(4).
  • Netzer, D., & Schavrien, J. (2016). Transpersonal art: A conversation with artist Judy Schavrien. Art/Research International: A Transdisciplinary Journal, 1(1).
  • Raab, K. A. (2003). Mysticism, Creativity, and Psychoanalysis: Learning from Marion Milner. The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. 13(2), 79-96.
  • Ramaswamy, A., & Deslauriers, D. (2014). Dancer–Dance–Spirituality: A phenomenological exploration of Bharatha Natyam and Contact Improvisation. Dance, Movement & Spiritualities, 1(1), 105-122.
  • Rominger, R. (2010). Postcards from heaven and hell: Understanding the near-death experience through art. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 27(1), 18-25.
  • Ruebsaat, S. (2014). What Does a Mythopoetic Inquiry Look Like? SFU Educational Review, 1 (1).
  • Ryan, J. F. (2012). Photography as a tool of awareness. The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 44(1), 92-97.
  • Schwartz, T. (2015). Your artwork is a glance, a window, a mirror: Resonance in group therapy. Group, 39(4), 319-330.
  • Titchen, A., & McCormack, B. (2010). Dancing with stones: critical creativity as methodology for human flourishing. Educational Action Research, 18(4), 531-554.
  • Van, D. A. (2014). Art-based learning: Painting the journey of self-realisation. Reflective Practice, 15(6), 751-765.
  • Van Lith, T. (2014). “Painting to find my spirit”: Art making as the vehicle to find meaning and connection in the mental health recovery pro will refer your inquiry to the organizers of this archive. 

Note: Authors of articles immediately above are invited to contact the organizers of this archive via the Contact page to give permission to upload their articles. 

 

Dissertations and Theses

Note: Dissertation and theses will be added as they are available and permission is granted by authors. 

 

Photo credit: Dorit Netzer & Jessica Bockler © 2016.