CASE STUDY: The role of art therapy as a potential space for the processing of psychological and physical experience following stroke

The Art Therapy (aka Art Psychotherapy) Profession is State Registered by the Health Professions

Council.  

Art Therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which art and image-making play a central role within the

therapeutic relationship. In the three-way process between person, image and therapist the art media

acts as the primary form of communication; the person and the image-making process (rather than the

product) being most important.  ‘The overall aim of art therapy is to enable a client to change and grow

at a personal level through the use of art materials in a safe and facilitating environment’. (British

Association of Art Therapists)

For me, one of the key elements to come from this paper is what I have mentioned above. This idea that art therapy is a three-way  process between person, image and therapist. The art media acts as the primary form of communication; the person and the image-making process (rather than the product) being most important. In many ways this statement underpins my motivation to choose the line of study that I am doing. It has been evident overt the past weeks that in my weekly art meetings that each person communicates in their own way, and they do this through different tools and media, but most important, it's this process to them which is important and not the end result.

To read the full document you can excess the link here at, CASE STUDY:  The role of art therapy as a potential space for the processing of  psychological and physical experience following stroke

ePAD: Engaging Platform for Art Development

This paper discuss the benefits of using touchscreen interfaces to encourage older people in the art therapy process. Although my research is going beyond this, it is still interesting to understand the benefits of using touchscreen and there positive influence on a user. The full paper can be read hear at,  ePAD: Engaging Platform for Art Development

Another publication that I came across Design and Prototype of a Device to Engage Cognitively

Disabled Older Adults in Visual Artwork is also a good paper that explains the benefits of using touchscreen technology. 

Ezscreen Helps Art Therapy Miracle

Five-year-old Deontay Isaac of Philadelphia, a patient at Blair E. Batson Hospital for Children,
does not need words to tell her story. The artwork-lined walls of her hospital say it all.


The breakthrough came with the arrival of a printer and an Ezscreen® RxKiosk® “All-in-One” Touchscreen PC donated by the Katherine Townsend Terral-Jessica Shelby Ferris endowment. This fund supports early intervention and art therapy in Batson Hospital. The computer is operated by touching its screen, so it could be controlled with a mouthstick which meant that Deontay could run the computer independently.


For further reading click on this link, Ezscreen Touchscreen Systems

Art therapy research

Art Therapy: Using the Creative Process for Healing and Hope Among African American Older Adults

This article provides an introduction to the field of art therapy and the potential it can offer to address the emotional needs of the frail elderly. Two case studies are discussed, and examples of artwork are provided. The case studies and artwork were created under the guidance of an art therapist at a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) site in an urban African American community. This article explores how art making addresses the specific developmental tasks of the elderly in a culturally competent manner. Included are practical considerations in the choice of art media and directives for working with elderly clients, as well as resources for further information on the use of art in therapy.

Plastico, Westport, Co.Mayo

Based in Westport Co. Mayo, Ireland, We at Plastico pride ourselves in providing the highest quality range of plastics and customised fabricated products which create maximum impact at point of purchase or enhancement at point of display. Plastico's superior workmanship and ability to listen to and meet our customers needs has seen Plastico grow from strength to strength from its inception in 2005. Talk to us about your needs and we will guarantee to give you a product that both you and Plastico can be proud of.

The reason for choosing this company is that they were very helpful and professional with helping to solve my design problem. The company sent out samples in the post the first day that I contacted them and this really helped me to clarify what material I exactly needed. Another thing that I felt company excelled at compared to other companies was that the owner took time to explain the different methods for polishing edges and how other companies do a cheaper job but with less success to do do what I was looking for. In my design, one of the challenges is to maximize the light that bounces through the acrylic. One way to increase the sensibility of my prototype is to have the edges buffed to a polished edge so that I have the maximum amount of light being used from the IR LED's. I will take photos of the acrylic when it gets delivered. 

Week 10 Semester 2

This video is part of a series that I am posting as a blog about my weekly experience of doing a masters in Interactive Media and Design at the University of Limerick.

Hunt Museum proposal

Below are images that our group created to give to the curator and director of the hunt museum for our proposal. We have finalized the measurements and over the next week we plan to go forward to the making stage of our project.

Ceiling plan of where our projection will circulate. 

Floor plan of where the projection table will sit in the middle of the room