Research projects and publications

Six art therapists belonging to the Asian Art Therapy Network give their personal reflections on the International Art Therapy Practice Research Conference, which took place in London, 2019. In common is the importance given to collaboration, cooperation and developing a sense of community.

Citation:
Lay, Ronald P.M.H., et al. ''Conference Review: British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) and American Art Therapy Association (AATA) Art Therapy Practice and Research Conference, London, UK, 2019.'' CAET: Creative Arts in Education and Therapy: Eastern and Western Perspectives, vol. 5, no. 2, 2019, pp. 117-128, doi: https://doi.org/10.15212/CAET/2019/5/27.

The process of design explicates the procedural knowledge of design activities, shifting theoretical conceptions across practical dimensions. Design thinking, as a creative and innovative methodology, has been established as a designerly process for non-designers to address complex problems. This article reviews the implications of introducing the design thinking methodology as a pedagogical approach in design education at LASALLE College of the Arts in Singapore, generating new knowledge to inform the research spaces of design practice and theory. Using the design thinking methodology as a sound framework to facilitate risk-taking decisions in design research and practice, students from the design specialisms of Design Communication, Product Design and Interior Design were inducted into an interdisciplinary project. The perspectives and insights arising from the collaborative, design thinking methodology are extracted, analysed and adapted to form a framework to illustrate the non-linear, circular structures of knowledge generation from theory (designerly knowing) to practice (design thinking) and research (design knowing).

Citation:
Chon, Harah, and Joselyn Sim. ''From Design Thinking to Design Knowing: An Educational Perspective.'' Journal of Art, Design and Communication in Higher Education, vol. 18, no. 2, 2019, pp. 187-200, doi: https://doi.org/10.1386/adch_00006_1.

Cover Art: Critical reflection is at the core of how I purposefully consider and make sense of my various roles, responsibilities, and contributions as a professional and credentialed art therapist, educator, and artist within various contexts, both locally and abroad. As such, I often find myself working within fast-paced and complex situations, sometimes confronted by rigid constructs, systems, and perspectives. On a recent art, culture, and mental health overseas trip to Bali, with postgraduate students from the Art Therapy training program that I lead in Singapore, I was invited to create an artwork from materials found in and around the outdoor jungle art studio of renowned artist David Trevelyan. This sculpture emerged as I scavenged, repurposed, and assembled a range of natural and nonnatural components and is reminiscent of how I consolidate and perhaps share my understanding, purpose, and meaning with others in the particular roles that I assume. Offering, in this sense, is about the giving or imparting of something with the intention for others to receive; sometimes this might be perceived as strange, foreign, and different, and, at other times, this might be embraced with open arms, humility, and compassion.

Citation:
Lay, Ronald P.M.H.. ''Offering.'' Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, vol. 36, no. 2, 2019, pp. 56-56, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2019.1618171.

Cultural collectives that are driven by community centered thinking and social purpose require new strategies for organization and sustainability. Taking a case study of a Malaysian collective that uses literature and reading as a methodology for public space reclamation and the cultivation of a culture of dissent, the question of organizational management for non-organizations is raised. Buku Jalanan is a self-identified collective lacking formal structure that has evolved from its founding group into a nationwide movement spawning nearly 100 chapters. This study attempts to construct an understanding of the collective from its mission, organizational structure and questions of sustainability. In this process questions will be raised as to what rules of management may be applicable to this context of cultural agency. The relationship between the founding group, Buku Jalanan Shah Alam, and its network of chapters will also be discussed in an attempt to frame Buku Jalanan as not just a collective or network, but something more conceptually larger – a movement or a method. Questions on the perennial need for sustainability are answered by the proposal that factors such as community relevance, participation and civic engagement, are more vital factors than professionalization and organizational sustainability.

Citation:
Janamohanan, Sunitha. ''Managing Cultural Activism: A Case Study of Buku Jalanan of Malaysia.'' The Routledge Companion to Arts Management, edited by William Byrnes, and Aleksandar Brkić, Abingdon, Routledge , 2019, pp. 234-248, doi: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351030861.