Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives Art-based learning: painting the journey of self-realisation

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Art-based learning: painting thejourney of self-realisationJosé van den Akkera

a Business School: Management and Organisations (M261), TheUniversity of Western Australia, Crawley, AustraliaPublished online: 13 Aug 2014.

To cite this article: José van den Akker (2014): Art-based learning: painting the journey ofself-realisation, Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, DOI:10.1080/14623943.2014.944133

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Art-based learning: painting the journey of self-realisation

José van den Akker*

Business School: Management and Organisations (M261), The University of WesternAustralia, Crawley, Australia

(Received 4 November 2013; final version received 9 July 2014)

Art-based learning is a way of engaging the intellectual, affective, visual andkinaesthetic domains modelling creative, lateral thinking and personal meaning-making through metaphor as well as coaching dialogue. It is a form of experien-tial learning involving learning cycles to entice deep reflection in and on practiceand deep, transformative learning. Art-based learning is essential to the studiesof Expression and Communication and of Transpersonal Art Therapy (TAT).This journal-type essay explores what happened during an arts-based activity aspart of the author’s study in TAT practice. The activity concerned finger-painting‘the journey of self-realisation’ and the resulting imagery was used to coach dia-logue. Describing the process through a series of steps, the author discusses theexperiences and insights that emerged during and after the process. Though sub-jective and not necessarily applicable to all situations, this essay may encouragetertiary educators of studies in Education and Health to employ similar arts-based learning exercises to effectively benefit their own development, that oftheir students, and effectively the learning community.

Keywords: reflective practice; transpersonal art therapy; art-based learning;mapping exercise; journey of self-realisation; agency; therapeutic

Introduction

Art-based learning is a way of using the visual arts to engage the expressive and inte-grative potential of creativity (Hinz, 2009). It involves the intellectual, affective andkinaesthetic domains, encourages the use of metaphor, and coaches dialogue and per-sonal meaning-making (Catterall, 2009; Eisner, 2002; Hughes, 2011; Rooney, 2004).It can be applied at the level of community organisations, schools, classrooms, teach-ers and special populations of learners (Rooney, 2004, pp. 3–5). In educational con-texts, art-based learning fosters students’ creativity and innovation (Alter, 2010). Itencourages cooperation between students, and helps improve their communicationskills (Burton, Horrowitz, & Abeles, 1999; Gullett, 2008). Art-based activities capturestudents’ interest and stimulate their willingness to try new things. They also enhancestudents’ motivation and sense of self-esteem (Catterall, 2009; Rooney, 2004), espe-cially when they have limited English proficiency or live with a disability (Simpson,2007). Art-based activities promote a way of learning that facilitates students’ devel-opment in areas of communication and exploring social, political, emotional and spiri-tual issues. It helps them experience an identity position and agency, which isimportant for healing and self-realisation purposes, here considered not a matter of

*Email: [email protected]

© 2014 Taylor & Francis

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trying to get somewhere or actualise a particular state, but realising one’s fullness ofbeing and walking a path which one creates oneself (Dimitrov, 2005).

The arts (including movement and dance) are also increasingly used in health-care settings as a therapeutic tool to support clients and their carers (Leigh & Bailey,2013). Art-making is a therapeutic activity, as increasingly acknowledged andclarified in neuroscientific and psychobiological contexts. Interactions between, forexample, children and their carers are right-brain mediated and can be restoredthrough the use of art (Malchiodi, 2013). It allows people in need of care to describetheir experiences in non-verbal ways and access their sensory memory, where highlycharged emotional experiences are stored (van der Kolk, 2006, cited in Malchiodi,2013). Accessing and processing those memories as a sensory-based type ofintervention helps people to effectively produce change because it does not rely onleft-brain language capacity to process predominantly right-brain activity.

Art-based activities help people to recognise their personal validity, their capabil-ities, aspirations and their learning needs (Carey, 2006; Cheng, 2010; Hinz, 2009;Needs, 2012). This is why they are also used to educate (future) healthcare and edu-cation professionals, who need to reflect in and on practice as an important part ofhuman service delivery (Bergmark, Ghaye, & Alerby, 2007; Christie, 2007; Ghaye,2011). They are increasingly used as part of teacher education (e.g. Eisner, 1972,1979, 2002; Gibson & Ewing, 2011; Ogden, DeLuca, & Searle, 2010) and medicalschool curricula (de la Croix, Rose, Wildig & Willson, 2012; O’Carroll, n.d.). Themeaning-making and pedagogical capabilities of arts-based methods help (future)practitioners understand the complexity of critical educational and healthcare issues(Black, 2011; Hughes, 2011; Schön, 1983). It assists the process of transformingtheir frames of reference, so that practitioners become more capable of creatingconditions that facilitate deep, transformative learning in others (Hughes, 2011;Mezirow, 1991, 1997), which effectively benefits the healthcare and educationalcommunity as a whole.

Learning can be deeper, wider and more powerful with the arts as a way toengage different ways of knowing. Students and practitioners/professionals alike,accessing the world through feeling and using our minds and bodies in more activeand integrated ways allows expression and communication of ourselves beyond ver-bal language. People possess many languages of learning and intellectual develop-ment needs to be supported through words, but also through art and other artisticlanguages.

Art-based learning receives special attention in the studies of Expression andCommunication and of Transpersonal Art Therapy (TAT), to enhance future art-based practitioners’ transformational learning, self-realisation and practitioner reflec-tivity (Hetty, 2007; Needs, 2012; O-Carroll, n.d.) and also to help them fully appre-ciate and understand the quality and power of different mediums and what their(future) clients may experience as a result of engaging in certain tasks. Both studiesemphasise the overlap between personal, professional and social selves that intersectwith the organisational, most evident in people’s narratives where different ‘voices’engage in dialogue. By making this dialogue explicit, it becomes possible to cometo terms with the realities of professional life which according to Schön (1987, citedin Kinsella, 2010, p. 566) is much like a swamp:

In the varied topography of professional practice, there is a high hard ground overlook-ing a swamp. On the high ground, manageable problems lend themselves to solution

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through the application of research-based theory and technique. In the swampylowland, messy, confusing problems defy technical solution.

An important part of studying TAT is offering future practitioners the opportunity toexperience the power of the TAT process and learning to trust (1) the maker of anart-piece, (2) the quality of a variety of mediums and (3) the ways in which the pro-duced artwork speaks and informs the person making the art-piece (Needs, 2012,p. 147). For these purposes and to understand the reflexive relationship between our-selves and our (future) work as a practitioner (Regan, 2008), TAT students completea series of arts-based learning tasks that include a focus on the soul and the idea ofservice as a form of attending and serving. This idea of service is derived from deepecology, which holds that planet Earth is a breathing organism that holds an ‘enso-uled world’ (Hillman, 1995, pp. 76–80). Deep ecology also embraces an ethics ofco-creativity and autopoiesis, which fits the idea of a more holistic and artisticapproach to cross-cultural education and the idea of higher education as a capacitybuilding process (van den Akker, 2010, 2013).

Personal reflections: linking the personal and professional

Before engaging as an academic, my professional work involved working with arange of disadvantaged people (e.g. prisoners, youth at risk, migrants, Aboriginalpeople, refugees). For more than 14 years, I helped people prepare for further studyand/or work, often using arts-based activities to assist their learning. In the process,I learned that art-based learning is an experience, a way of working that involvesrelationship building and reflective practice. As any experiential learning process,arts-based activities involve learning cycles (Kolb, 1984) and the four sequentialstages of: concrete experience; reflective observation (making sense of the experi-ence); abstract conceptualisation (considering broader and deeper implications); andactive experimentation (into concrete reality). Kolb’s concept of learning cyclesoffers a framework for students to understand that incidents in life, no matter howdifficult, will ultimately prove valuable and necessary life experiences, provided theyare reflected upon. It also helps them understand that once their reflections areabsorbed and linked with other experiences, they can translate them into theoriesthey can experiment with and they can test. This framework is also useful for thepractitioner him/herself as s/he progresses in his/her career. For example, in my ear-lier professional life I was confronted with disadvantaged people and especiallyIndigenous people and their communities, including refugees and Non-EnglishSpeaking Background (NESB) migrants, whose circumstances were challenging, ifnot traumatic. The impact of globalisation (internationalisation), terrorism (displace-ment) and post-colonial policies on their sense of well-being became ever moreapparent to me. This increased awareness affected my work as a practitioner, realis-ing that working with people to assist their growth from the inside out cannot afforda theoretical, local focus only. As a PhD student with a non-English speaking back-ground (NESB) exploring the dynamics in cross-cultural education and as an NESBearly career academic, I began to see the link with the globalising higher educationsystem, which continues to focus primarily on cognitive learning despite itsacknowledgement of the value of constructivist and (to a lesser degree) holistic orintegral paradigms. This primary focus on cognition – as other to recognition –recreates an ontology that avoids a confrontation with complexity and struggles from

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an ideology of eternal bliss and a ‘happily-ever-after’ syndrome (Allen, 2013). Thisideology blocks authentic open discussions on tensions, issues and intentions in pro-fessional and organisational contexts and reinforces linear thinking (Knowles, 2013;Taylor, 2013). To examine their own identity positions, including their masks,worldviews, discourse, cultural and professional roles (Cheng, 2010), (future) pro-fessionals and especially those who teach or work in cross-cultural contexts need tobe able to think outside the box. Art-based activities are particularly useful to servethis purpose.

An art-based learning activity: mapping the journey of self-realisation

The following journal-type description of being involved in an art-based activity aspart of my study in TAT, articulates what can happen during transpersonal art ther-apy processes and what the effects are when the art-maker dialogues with his/herart-piece and integrates insights gained in the process. It reflects the idea that art-based learning is a form of experiential learning and of holistic transpersonal highereducation (Braud, 2006). It demonstrates that more than ‘chalk and talk’ techniques,arts-based activities and, in this instance, an activity titled ‘mapping the journey ofself-realisation’ aids the development of professionals as individuals that grow fromthe inside out, not by changing their thinking but by doing, sparking further reflec-tive practice (Cheng, 2010). ‘Mapping’ a journey in this context meant that the stu-dent was to paint a visual representation of how one’s journey of self-realisation hadunfolded to date, with crossroads and all. This is the ‘map’ I created:

I’d like to share a short story that resulted from completing the final steps of thetask:

There is harmony in the cosmic field of all possibilities. Yellow butterfly seems to bethe central figure in the landscape, but she is only self-determined and self-organising,aware of her interdependent relationship with all that is. Red spirit supports her upwardmove but also ensures butterfly stays in touch with the field. Butterfly is happy to staygrounded in the experience of life of which it partakes as a ‘being in but not of theworld’. Whilst flapping its wings to create pathways in the sky, butterfly absorbs thesepathways into its being. Space allows butterfly to materialise and butterfly is thankfulfor that. Butterfly wants to emerge in the space but also dissolve in it, to become moreof itself in the space, and the space is thankful for that. Space shows its gratitude byemitting white-blue light, which brings out the quality of the butterfly and also givesher the freedom to move up and into infinite space. With that butterfly finds its destinywith an all-encompassing sense of delight. There is harmony in the cosmic field of allpossibilities.

What I did to enhance the process of painting

I had planned to spend a whole day to complete the task of ‘mapping the journey ofself-realisation’. The day came, and I walked into the studio: a very inspiring andnurturing space that helps focus my awareness. I was aware of my capacity to holdsafe space, and felt the need to shift my day-to-day State of Consciousness (SoC)into a more aware and intuitive state and a state of surrender. I then remembered thetime when I was fully immersed in my PhD study, and focused on the cross meta-phor to better understand and work with the dynamics in cross-cultural education.At that time, I submerged deeper and deeper into the process of attending and gotthe sense of my physically, mentally and spiritually ‘crossing’ a series of paths in a

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wide landscape; an interactively interweaving ‘landscape’ which Sills and Lown(2008) refer to as the third field; ‘a field much wider than individual people or theimpact of their relationship’ (p. 78). Awareness of this third field, the authors sug-gest, follows the experience of the first and second fields of attention. The first fieldis the space where a vertical connecting takes place with an object or subjectthrough meditative practice and concentration, aiming to gain insight. The secondfield of attention extends the ‘horizontal connection’ by establishing an energeticrelationship with another and energetically embodying a larger space in the momentof attending to that which is happening inside as well as what is happening in thatOther (pp. 77–78). Sills and Lown (2008) refer to this state of awareness as a‘groundedness that supports the capacity of the Other to open to more empathy andcompassion for themselves’ (p. 70).

In this space of attention I once again remembered something I had experiencedseveral times when literally running through a landscape, realising that people notonly ‘run’ through the landscape but the landscape also ‘runs’ through them. Whenwe experience this unique inseparability, a ‘vortex of communication’ (Dimitrov,2000) or an I–Thou dialogic encounter can take flesh. It can become apparent to usthat we have the capacity to walk and ‘sing’ two tracks and surf two types of wavesat the same time, both as a place- and time-bound being but also as a timeless visitorto any landscape of my desire, attuned to particular vibrations and in a constant stateof rising, moving on and passing away (van den Akker, 2013).

I walked up to one of the various tables in the studio, put down my workbook,and opened the page that listed the task and the series of steps to facilitate the pro-cess of mapping my journey of self-realisation. The first step stated: ‘Prepare paintsand hand cleaning equipment for this activity; you’ll be using fingers and handsonly, no brushes’. So I walked to another table and picked up four of my favouritecolours of oil and acrylic paint. Then I walked to the first table and placed my70x90 cm. canvas on it. The second step stated: ‘Meditate for a time on your

Figure 1. Landscape ‘upright’ version of my ‘map’.

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journey toward being fully self-realized.’ I did not meditate for long as I had alreadydone this work in preparation before coming to the studio. The third step stated:‘Focus your attention upon the body-sense of being fully self-realized.’ I tuned intomy body and felt sensation arise, which is when I placed splashes and lines of paintall over the canvas. The fourth step stated: ‘Allow the essence of sensory experienceof full self-realisation to pour through your hands and fingers, to create an image oflines and paths in the paint’. I moved my fingers through the paint to let the coloursmerge and do their own thing. The paint turned into the shape of an aura-like fieldwith ‘paths’ on the canvas-scape. The fifth step stated: ‘Keep the paint really wetand allow it to ‘morph’ as your sense require’. I walked around the canvas andmoved it around a few times to approach it from different angles and continued toput some other colours on the canvas, most of it white titanium oil paint. Then I leftit for what it was. But the map was not ready, and I decided to complete the workthe next day. That next day I went back into the studio and repeated the process:picked up some of the colours that appealed most to me and placed some moresplashes and lines of colour on the canvas to mix them in with the paint from theday before (which was still wet in many parts) to complete the map. The sixth stepstated: ‘At the completion of this exercise, thank your inner guide or wisdom for themap, and allow the art work to dry and the sensory insight to settle before tacklingthe intellectualising component of this exercise’. I thanked my higher self and thatwhich had accompanied me in this delightfully heart-warming process, cleaned thespace, put the paints back where they were before, and left the studio but withoutthe canvas which I left in the studio to dry. This also allowed me to take some dis-tance from it and digest and incorporate the experience of mapping my journey ofself-realisation.

Experiences in the process of painting creating an image of lines and paths(including the sensory experience of full self-realisation, and the sense of‘morphing’)

The painting process was like the existential-phenomenological experience inmeditative practice. I was aware of visual, auditory and bodily-kinaesthetic phe-nomena at the one and same time: a sense of mindfulness. Awareness of the sen-sations was sharp and I felt the delight of experiencing light and dark colours, themovement of my body in contact with the canvas and the paint, the liquidity andslippery texture of the paint, the paint’s temperature (cold paint that became warmas I moved my fingers through it), and the slowing down of time. I felt a deepsense of comfort and belonging, a being looked after, and of relationship. It waslike I heard music and my soul sang. I loved this process! It reminded me of the12 senses as described in detail by Soesman (1990), who studied Rudolf Steiner’steachings and drawings that show human beings have three physical senses, three‘soul’ or emotional senses, and three spiritual senses. I experienced something likea soul guide that assisted the process, and developed a sense of soul that can dis-entangle from the materials conditions set by mind and body, and as such from‘the mortal dissipative attractors of human activity’ (Dimitrov & Naess, 2005,p. 39). I realised a ‘flow’ experience had ensued, which had been triggered andsustained by the human capacity to set a goal for art-making, following a seriesof steps, and matching my skills with the challenges I was faced with, whichbrought with it intense enjoyment and a sense of safety (Seung Yeon Lee, 2013,p. 62).

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Flow is a subjective state that people report when they are completely involved insomething to the point of forgetting time, fatigue, and everything else but the activityitself. It is what we feel when we read a well crafted novel or play a good game ofsquash, or take part in a stimulating conversation. The defining feature of flow isintense experiential involvement in moment-to-moment activity. Attention is fullyinvested in the task at hand, and the person functions at his or her fullest capacity.(Csıkszentmihalyi, Abuhamdeh, & Nakamura, 2009, p. 600)

Digital time seemed to have stopped when I and fractured perceptions of space andplace flowed into a perception of one coherent whole, which can happen when peo-ple engage in the creation of complex intersubjective, perceptual, interpsychic andartistic processes (Chilton, 2013, p. 68). I had achieved a sense of self-realisation,and although a temporal sense, it left a lasting memory.

Insights (from my inner guide or wisdom) during the painting-process and afterthe painting process

During and after the painting-process I gained the following insights:

� A practitioner/professional is to recognise the importance of trusting that timeis flexible, even though our physical and mental bodies are locked in clock-time. The ‘flow’ experience is triggered and sustained by our capacity to set agoal/s for engaging with life in space and time, as it is with art-making. Theproduct that comes out of our fingers is driven by the desire to create an opti-mal match between our skills and the challenges we need to face in life.

� A practitioner/professional is to acknowledge and work with the immense dif-ference in the lived, sensory experiences of a life-world that is both gross andsubtle in vibration. It is important s/he recognises him/herself as an agent ofpower. When engaging in arts-based activities, the practitioner/professionalcarries ‘a triple responsibility to the “nonartist”: 1/ He must repay the talentwhich he has. 2/ His deeds, feelings, and thoughts, as those of every man, cre-ate a spiritual atmosphere which is either pure or poisonous. 3/ These deedsand thoughts are materials for his creations, which themselves exercise influ-ence on the spiritual atmosphere’ (Kandinsky, 2006, p. 108).

� ‘Received thoughts’ come from the soul-level of existence and are an impor-tant part of the process of unfolding in arts-based activities. Unfolding is a joy-ful existential-phenomenological process, and the practitioner/professional isto coach the student or client by combining the process of art-making withmeaning-making, in awareness of spirituality as something transformational(Hyson, as cited in Smygelski, 2013).

� Considering the use of arts-based activities for transformational learning, it isuseful to think of the importance of including simple bodily movements in theactivity. They are a means for exploring personal anticipations in relation toothers. They are also a starting point for elaborating on our personal theoriesand practices in relation to others and ‘the Other’ (Cipolletta, 2013).

� The practitioner/professional is to acknowledge the embodied being and thespiritual being’s love for the sensory. As Ormsby-Green (2007) points out:‘Two things the spiritual nature of man values above all other things areEnergy and Entertainment … which go hand in hand, each partaking of theother for full effect’ (p. 166). As described by two running philosophers,

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Damon Young and Mark Rowlands in a recent ABC radio program (Mitchell,2013), ‘many of us are often too cerebrally engaged and habitual … but it isimportant to also recognise that you are not living a fully human life unlessyour body and your mind are working together. We are not just bodies, auto-matic machines or just some mind that is floating around in the ether. Anunchallenged body is a squandered chance to transfer the world, because thedaily ways of dealing with the world rests on the conception of the world.Then the world will be lacking some poignancy to you. To make a contribu-tion the sense of human potential needs to be fully comprehended via activitiesthat challenge the human body and mind together. A full contribution to fam-ily life, to school or vocation is not possible if you are in a sense only ‘halfhuman’. Focusing on the physical, we may find that ‘The Body Sphere isabout the ways we use our bodies to create and compete, nurture and abuse,display and conceal’.

� The practitioner/professional acknowledges the importance of holding safespace. Burchell (2008) defined Holding Space as ‘providing a way of express-ing deep-seated values and intentions for my practice. It represents a space inwhich there is potential for the “other”, the student or client to find, confirm,and articulate a way forward that holds great meaning for them at this point’.Ormsby-Green (2006, p. 294) defines ‘holding space’ as ‘being in the presenceof another whilst holding open a vacuum wherein the other can perceive andmove without interference. Injecting nothing into the space between’.Ormsby-Green (2006, p. 342) defines space as (1) physically, the environmentwhich surrounds one. May be of any size as perceived by the person, fromsmall to huge. (2) Mentally, the intellectual or emotional area occupied, i.e. ‘Iam in a bad space’ or ‘I’m coming from a very comfortable place’. (3) Spiritu-ally, the extent of awareness ranging from collapsed to massively expanded. Aconcept of freedom (ability to accommodate) or lack of it. Spiritual space canbe filled up with additives, or freed out by removal of additives which canclutter a space to an eventual point of non-function.’ Ormsby-Green distin-guishes safe from unsafe space (2006, pp. 108–115), defining safe space as ‘aperson’s immediate environment being free of bad effect or undesired conse-quence. An area, be that physical, mental (intellectual/emotional), or spiritual,wherein one can be, think, or act without negative results occurring’ (p. 335).In the vexed world of worldly life, the practitioner/professional plays a respon-sible role in creating and holding a safe space. It is important to trust theprocess and not assume anything (Needs, 2012, p. 14).

� A practitioner/professional understands and works with the fact that a blueprintof the path has already been laid down. We made a contract as a soul-entity infree will when in-between lives and as part of the spirit world structure (Myss,2001; Newton, 1994). This spirit world structure is not authoritarian but inintegrity, with a kind of value system that consists of overwhelming kindness,tolerance, patience and absolute love (Newton, 2000).

� A process like the one described above (‘mapping the journey of self-realisa-tion’) is a therapeutic process, that can help a (future) practitioner/professionalunderstand that self-realisation is not something that can be set in concrete, orindeed aimed for as part of one arts-based activity. At the same time however,this type of activity can offer a profound sense of recognition, a sense of beingwhole and complete if only for a brief moment in time.

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� The practitioner/professional can use finger-painting as a medium to offerpeople the opportunity of experience the ‘morphing’ quality within. In thewords of Kandinsky (2006), art-making is not about ‘vague production, transi-tory and isolated, but in itself a power which must be directed to the improve-ment and refinement of the human soul – to, in fact, raise the spiritualtriangle’ (p. 107).

� The practitioner/professional is aware that art-based learning is a way of usingartistic mediums to help people experience and deal with sensory experiencesas something that is an intimate part of life on earth, which can help them‘come back to life’.

� There is really another whole realm of depth and sensitivity available in life,but somehow, you are just not seeing it. You wind up feeling cut off. You feelinsulated from the sweetness of experience by some sort of sensory cottonwool. You are not really touching life. You are not making it again. And theneven that vague awareness fades away, and you are back to the same old real-ity. The world looks like the usual foul place, which is boring at best. It is anemotional roller coaster, and you spend a lot of your time down at the bottomof the ramp, yearning for the heights. (Ven. Henepola Guturatana, 2002, p. 7)

� Awareness of the 12 senses brings home the idea that existential problemsexist in a cosmic context (Capra, 1997, 2008, 1982, pp. 409–410), and thattranspersonal art therapy is a spiritual practice carried out by spiritual beings(Dahlin, 2012, p. 61).

Insights gained from looking at and evaluating the painting

Looking at the painting gives me an enormous sense of peace. It makes me happy,each time I walk past the space where it lives in my home or when I look at it. Nomatter whether I present it in landscape or portrait, my heart sings when I see it. Itis as helping me remember who I am as a soul-being.

In landscape presentation and in its ‘proper’ position I see a yellow butterfly-likefigure that appears as the central figure in the landscape. Flapping its wings to createpathways it also absorbs these pathways into its being. The butterfly emerges in thespace, materialises yet also dissolves whilst it becomes more of itself (part of thelight?). It is as if the white-blue light brings out the quality of the butterfly and alsogives it freedom to move up and into an infinite space. With that the butterfly seemsto find its destiny and an all-encompassing sense of delight. The butterfly is abso-lutely self-determined and self-organising, aware of her interdependent relationshipwith all that is. Surrounded by red patches its upward move is supported yet ensuresthe staying in touch with, and being grounded in, the field of which it partakes as a‘being in but not of the world’.

In ‘upside down’ position I see a descending butterfly and light that keeps it up,supporting it to fly in any direction it chooses. A red blob in the corner seems towant to move towards the butterfly, perhaps keen to make contact. A blue field thatsurrounds the butterfly seems to soften the red blob’s approach to the butterfly. Thetextured lines or pathways in the field seem to underline the interdependent relation-ship between forces in the field.

In ‘portrait’ position, the textured lines on the canvas seem to stand out more,especially looking from the bottom of the canvas to the top. The top right-handcorner in red and white colours seems to represent energies from the natural world:

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nature-spirits perhaps. The green area seems to stand out and connect with both thered field and the yellow-white entity. It is almost like a feeding ground. A cosmicstar-like space on the left of the ‘butterfly’ reminds me of galaxies in space. It lookslike the spawning ground and forms a background to the yellow-white entity (earlierseen as a butterfly). The blue field on the right offers an enormous sense of space. Ittriggers a sigh of relief and a sense of freedom that gives the butterfly scope for fur-ther expansion in a field of opportunities.

Figure 2. Landscape ‘upright’ version of my ‘map’.

Figure 3. Landscape ‘upside down’ version of my ‘map’.

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There is a sense of balance in this cosmic-like space and the butterfly movesaround freely and blends in with the overall landscape or cosmic field. It emitsenergy, but it is also informed by energy. Nothing seems to vie for attention andeverything has a place in the space. There is complete harmony. The red area hasthe shape of an animal-spirit-like figure: a dog or kangaroo perhaps that happilycommunicates with the green bit of ‘grass’. Focusing on the dark blue/indigo area inthe top-right corner reminds me of the birth of new universes. Overall the paintingis like a blueprint of life embedded in the cosmic field of all possibilities.

Conclusion

This essay talked about a recent activity undertaken as part of a Transpersonal ArtTherapy (TAT) course in which I made a painting that represented my journey ofself-realisation. As a representation of this journey, this art-based activity is notabout maturing as a result of engaging in this activity, but to intuitively feel into andconnect with a space-time dimension which one cannot access by rational means. Idiscussed what I did in the process of painting, what my experiences were whilst

Figure 4. Portrait ‘counter-clockwise’ turned version of my ‘map’.

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doing the activity, what insights emerged during and after the process of painting,including in terms of my work as an emerging art therapist, and insights I gainedfrom looking at and evaluating the painting from different angles.

The particular activity of ‘mapping the journey of self-realisation’ described hereas a process of unfolding, though subjective and therefore not generisable, may beuseful for tertiary educators, mentors and coaches who have an interest in art-basedlearning, and perhaps especially those who endorse anthroposophical ideas. Thosealready familiar with anthroposophy would understand that art-based activities arepart of experiential learning and intrinsically connected with holistic and transper-sonal development. Art-based activities such as the task of ‘mapping the journey ofself-realisation’ require flexible use of time and space, combined with an inner urgeto complete the task as part of one’s physical, mental/emotional and spiritualdevelopment. In a tightly structured environment such as mainstream highereducation, an activity like this would need to be introduced gently and as part of apersonal development curriculum that would stress the idea that art-making is a pro-cess that, like individual people, grows from the inside out. Art-making is about

Figure 5. Portrait ‘clockwise’ turned version of my ‘map’.

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communicating with a larger part of the self in order to ‘unfold’, with time andspace as flexible tools.

Learning can be deeper, wider and more powerful with the arts as a way toengage different ways of knowing. Exploring the world through feeling and usingour minds and bodies in more active and integrated ways allows students across dis-ciplines to express themselves beyond verbal language. People possess many lan-guages of learning and intellectual development needs to be supported throughwords, but also through use of the arts and artistic languages. A blended model of‘educare’ and ‘educere’, the first meaning ‘jamming in’ and the other ‘leading out’(Bass & Good, 2004) is preferable to conventional teaching and training in Educa-tion, Health and other public sector study contexts. Where people are trained towork as practitioners in these sectors, they cannot rely on intellectual knowing andcomputer-based, ‘untouchable’ communications. These future practitioners need tobe able to engage multiple modes of knowing and revisit the ‘lower’ personal areasto combine these with the ‘higher’ transpersonal.

The activity of ‘mapping the journey of self-realisation’ may also be of interestto those whose research interests are in the exploration of limitations of rationalthought and the increased emphasis on e-learning, and/or those who query thenotion put forward by Lombardo (2012): ‘consciousness as awareness or experienceis simply a complex physical system of matter and energy or an electro-chemicalprocess, or the subjective interiority of matter of the brain (p. 95). Lombardo won-ders why the brain feels anything at all, why there is a ‘light’ inside and what thisamazing light actually is (ibid).

Notes on contributorJosé van den Akker (PhD, MedSt) is an educator and researcher at the University of WesternAustralia. Her expertise and research-interests are in the areas of cross-cultural education,higher education, complexity theory, organisation theory and since recently Positive Behav-iour Support. She is also a (transpersonal) art therapy practitioner. A migrant from theNetherlands and having worked with various groups of disadvantaged people including chil-dren in an Aboriginal desert community inspires her commitment to ethical leadership andsocial justice principles.

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