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Grieving Artists: Influences Of Loss And Bereavement On Visual Artmaking, Rebecca Arnold

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

This phenomenological survey explored how professional artists navigated personal loss experiences that were a result of the death of a loved one. Although artists have worked within themes of death throughout history, most studies on art and bereavement to date have focused on psychological or therapeutically-oriented investigations. Exploring how bereaved artists experience their own art-making through contemporary practices may serve to understand how fine art processes and grief could be interrelated. The guiding questions were explored through semi-structured interviews with eight exhibiting artists. The participants all self-identified regarding age and gender, and ranged in subject matter, media choices, and artistic …