Elkis-Abuhoff, D. L., Gaydos, M., Rose, S., & Goldblatt, R. (2010). The impact of education and exposure on art therapist identity and perception. Art Therapy, 27(3), 119-126.

In this article, the authors address how instructors and on-site supervisors can enhance the development of professional identities for coming generations of art therapists. The authors argue that art therapy students who enter the program with a lack of prior contact with a patient population have a difficult time trying to create their identities as professional art therapists. The researchers conducted a study using 21 art therapy students asking them to draw how they viewed their patients and vice versa. Results from the study showed that with adequate supervision, encouraged self-awareness, and support towards professional identity, their students exhibited an increase in stress and self-awareness.

The authors, therefore, concluded that supervision is crucial when it comes to the development and growth of students in the art therapy profession at large because it supports them in becoming knowledgeable, defined, and well-rounded art therapists. This article’s assertions about the role of supervision in art therapy students is very insightful and will help me to understand better how art therapy and supervision are related as I conduct my study. The authors are professors in the field of counseling and mental health profession in different universities in the country.

Marshall, J. (2016). A systems view: The role of art in education. Art Education, 69(3), 12-19.

In this article, author Julia Marshall starts by arguing that many educators often find a challenge integrating arts in to education. Using an example of a girl named Libby who used art to overcome challenges in her education, Marshall states that an integrated and holistic view of the practice of art can create a firm foundation for art advocacy in the educational curriculum. Through Libby’s journey with art, Marshall contends that applying integrating art in to the school curriculum can be a catalyst for stimulating and motivating learners to look at knowledge positively. The author adds that art brings color, form, texture, and meaning to the concept of learning and thus stimulates deep, serious, and logic thinking to learners.

Marshall concludes by urging leaders to design curriculums that are art-savvy and to demonstrate to the educational system the importance of art to learners as well as the system to enable the sector to thrive. Marshall’s article is very informative in terms of understanding the significance of art to education in general. This article is essential in my research as it informs me how art can be integrated into the educational system to make learning fun and less challenging. Julia Marshall is an art educator who has taught art for over a decade. She has written two other journals on art.