Art Club for The Brain Tumour Charity Exhibition, Time (March-April 2023)

By Joshua Y’Barbo 

25 May 2023

As an artist-in-residence for the TEAM LEWIS Foundation and a lecturer for the MA Global Collaborative Design Practice at the University of the Arts London, I write Art Clubs for cross-sector audiences and teach a range of theoretical, practical, and research-based skills transferable across art and design. 

Introduction

In April, I worked with The Brain Tumour Charity (TBTC), a dedicated funder of research into brain tumours globally, which hosted an exhibition, Time, at the Business Design Centre in London. Sponsored by the TEAM LEWIS Foundation (TLF), I helped the charity look for donations for the exhibition auction. I also offered a day-long workshop for the exhibition with open drawing stations. I delivered a series of drawing exercises based on colour-as-feeling, sense of identity, and sharing experiences, which I designed to enhance the well-being and quality of life of others through artmaking. Art therapy and positive psychology often incorporate artmaking into teaching people how to identify and better understand their emotions and self-perceptions and how to communicate their experiences to others. Art therapists use creative experiences of making art, such as colouring or drawing, to help struggling individuals better understand and explore personal meanings and complicated emotions. According to Cancer Research UK (2022), 

Art therapy is a form of emotional support. It can be helpful to people who are in difficult and challenging situations. It involves using visual art materials with a trained art therapist. Together you create pictures or objects that have personal meanings. It may help release bottled-up emotions and give new understanding and perspectives. 

Art therapists help their patients by working together to create meaningful artworks that express emotions, individual problems, and perspectives, which offer creative ways for those struggling to come to terms with and deal with traumatic life experiences. These approaches value personal meaning expressed or reflected through multidimensional, multisensorial strategies to making art and experiencing art, which can help us design a programme of activities that connect the creative experiences of making art with personal, reflective exploration and reflexive learning (i.e. learning by doing, thinking, modifying, repeat). As a result, I created helpful tools for families to enhance the quality of their lives through creative activities and explore complex topics, including understanding emotions, regaining a sense of identity, and creating awareness around overlooked voices and experiences. My main objectives while designing this Art Club instalment were to research peer-reviewed studies into art therapy conducted with patients and nurses on oncology units and identify practical soft-touch approaches to encourage Time exhibition visitors to identify emotions, consider the mental and physical qualities they associate with their identities, and use storytelling to help other people understand the experiences of others. 

Colour and Emotion

The theorising about the relationship between colour and emotion can be traced back over 200 years, with many generations considering different correlations between the colours we see and the feelings we feel. These correlations between seeing and feeling have cultural contexts, arriving from historical moments and influencing our perspectives today. For example, according to Danish Textiles and Decorative Acoustic Designers, Unikavaev (nd), 

In 1810, German poet and artist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published one of the first books on colour psychology. He believed colours could elicit certain emotions and talked about the meanings of different hues throughout his book Theory of Colours. He described yellow as “gladdening” and “serene” and associated blue with melancholy, for example.

From a Western perspective, feeling blue or seeing red are common cultural correlations between colours and emotions. However, changing the context to another country, the correlations between emotions and colour change. For example, the Chinese culture associate colours with natural elements, including yellow for the earth and blue for wood (maayot.com, nd), which differ from cultural associations with yellow suns or blue oceans in other parts of North Western Europe, the UK or the US. In the West, we often associate red with anger or rage, while in China, the colour red is ‘[…] associated with life-generating energy (the sun, blood, and fire) – and is the colour of celebrations and prosperity,’ according to Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art (nd). Although correlations between colours and emotions differ across nations, our association between what we see and how we feel are universal human experiences that we all try to understand ourselves and potentially share with others. 

As such, cultural ideas about correlations between colour and emotion offer powerful tools for understanding and exploring our feelings and expressing our emotions to others, which lend themselves to drawing and artmaking activities, as art therapists expertly know and use in their own practices. So, any creative activity designed to help people understand and express their emotions should consider colour-emotion correlations as a reflective, expressive, person-centred approach for creating artwork that expresses and represents a breadth of human experiences. 

To combine colour and emotions into a series of drawing exercises, I relied on two essential resources I discovered while researching emojis, psychology and colour theory. First, 'The Emoji Feelings Chart’ offered by tes.com provides a handy resource for teaching all ages about visually representing emotions using culturally ubiquitous emojis. 'This emoji feelings chart is great for helping children to recognise how they are feeling by indicating an emoji which best represents their emotions and then giving it a label' (Reviews, GPS et al., n.d.). Albeit useful to teach kids about emotions using emojis, young people and adults can also relate to the simplicity of emojis in explaining complex emotions. Second, Dr Robert Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions (1980) provides one well-research approach to connecting different colours with visualising human feelings and experiences to better understand and communicate our emotional states. The Wheel of Emotions (1980) provided a details correlation of colours with the breadth of human feelings and experiences. The emoji chart provided easily relatable correlations between facial expressions and a range of human emotions, which I combined to create inclusive teaching tools that gave everyone the same starting point and learning materials. As a result, all participants could use drawing and colouring to better understand and express their emotions and tell others how they feel. Next, this programme needed a subtle approach to planning drawing activities that helped participants better understand their feelings about themselves and identify as part of the greater world around them. 

Charting Identity 

Identity binds us as individuals and groups of people, nations, histories, literature, music, art and cultures. Identity charts are graphic educational tools that help people understand the numerous factors influencing who we are and how we know ourselves. Using identity charts is one approach to assisting children in understanding their unique and shared identities. For example, 

Some aspects of our identities are consistent over our lives; others change as we gain skills and have different roles in life. Some aspects of our identities feel very central to who we are no matter where we are; others might feel more like background or depend on the situation. Some identities are labels that others put on us, while others see us as having that identity we don't.

facinghistory.org (2009)

This teaching resource acknowledges the complexities of individual and group identities and responds by teaching people how to understand and explore by mapping how they see themselves and the world around them. This is significant because any creative activities you design to help people understand or regain a sense of their identity need to include identity charting and mapping. 

Another handy, creative approach to teaching people about identity is drawing self-portraits. In art history and theory, self-portraits often immortalise key societal figures or publicly expose artists' inner perceptions of themselves. Self-portraits also offer a chance for people to use artmaking to communicate to themselves others how they see themselves. According to Learning to Give (nd),

Identity self-portraits create opportunities for self-understanding by encouraging youth to reflect on different facets of their identities. Participants illustrate their visible and invisible identity markers, reflect upon how these identities interact with how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others.

This means self-portraits self-promote ideas about who somebody is in exploring unique identities, cultural parables and fables, and complex human emotions, which can teach people how to examine who they think they are through drawing, colouring, writing, and speaking. So, I designed a series of activities that allowed people to go beyond their face-value sense of self and look for the unseen qualities that make them who they are and reflect what they value. 

To create a series of drawing and writing activities that explored identity, I combined self-portraiture and mapping with visible and invisible traits and roles within family groups and communities. Learning to Give use a social-emotional learning approach to identify self-portrait lessons in their mission to empower people with the knowledge and skills needed to thrive as contributing members of local communities and broader society. Following the SEL: Identity Self-Portrait lesson plan, ‘Participants illustrate their visible and invisible identity markers, reflect upon how these identities interact with how they perceive themselves and how they are perceived by others’ (learningtogive.org, nd). I also relied on online teaching resources by Facing History & Ourselves. For example, ‘Sharing their own identity charts with peers can help students build relationships and break down stereotypes. In this way, identity charts can be used as an effective classroom community-building tool’ (facinghistory.org 2009). By combining elements of identity mapping and identity self-portrait into a set of creative worksheets, I offered people create ways to regain a sense of their identity. I also slightly adjusted the typical approach to self-portraiture by encouraging people to draw themselves in an identity landscape. As a result, I created a set of exercises that encouraged participants to consider cognitive and physical connections between our environments, bodies, and identities. Subsequently, this programme needed to build on portraiture and landscapes by offering activities designed to tell stories and personal narratives differently. 

Storytelling Tools 

Telling stories and sharing perspectives with one another is a distinctive aspect of the human condition shared across global cultures and moments in history. The stories and narratives we tell one another are an essential and ageless art form that informs our cultural, cognitive, and physical development and influences our individual and social identities to the world around us. For example, according to Mensa for Kids (nd), 

From the stories told in paintings on the ancient caves at Lascaux (Google it!) to the bedtime stories told to young children, stories make up our history and guide our future. […] Stories are powerful. They can teach morals — the values that the author of the story thinks people should live by. They can teach history. They can entertain us. They can make us think about things in ways we’ve never thought of them before. They can make us laugh. They can make us cry. Telling stories is a large part of what makes people connected to each other.

This means that teaching people about art and artistic practices is a form of individual and societal growth and helps us share our experiences and perspectives with others. This is significant because the programme I wanted to design and deliver needed to provide opportunities for people that empowered them to express their unique voices, experiences, values, and emotions. 

To simplify storytelling into drawing exercise worksheets, I relied on the story mountain chart by Mensa for Kids and the three-part chart suggested by the Kennedy Centre. The story mountain chart uses a multi-stepped approach to help people map out the stories and narratives they want others to understand themselves or share with others. The Kennedy Centre (nd) suggested approach is teaching people to ‘examine how illustrations contribute to telling a story. Through picture books (without words), students will discuss and interpret details about the characters, setting, and plot.’ This approach offers a three-part chart for all ages to follow, which I combined into a set of creative exercises. As a result, I created a set of exercises that allowed people to express their stories and experiences either as a way to examine challenging situations they may be going through or to tell others about those struggles, successes, emotions, and perspectives. Finally, this program needed concrete examples of drawing activities used in research studies that combined art therapy and positive psychology with patients and nurses in oncology units.

Reflection and Conclusions

To create this art club programme, I took practical methods from Psychology and Art Therapy studies conducted with hospitalised patients and nurses to identify drawing exercises that would work for a public audience. For example, a research project conducted by Ilia State University in Georgia and King’s College London ‘[…] investigated how the emotional well-being of children with a congenital heart defect (CHD) hospitalised for heart surgery was expressed in self-drawings before and after their surgical treatment’ (Dolidze et al. 2013). The study concluded ‘[…] that self-drawing evaluation is a useful tool to reveal insights into emotional well-being, promoting safe and easy communication’ (Dolidze et al. 2013). While in the Handbook of Art Therapy states, ‘Participating in creative work within the medical setting can help rebuild the young patient's sense of hope, self-esteem, autonomy, and competence while offering opportunities for safe and contained expression of feelings’ (Councill, 2012). An Art Therapy study on caregivers of patients in an oncology unit published in the European Journal of Oncology Nursing produced exciting results.

Participants […] showed increases in positive affect, creative agency, and self-efficacy and decreases in negative affect anxiety, perceived stress, and burnout. Participants […] expressed enjoyment, relaxation, appreciation of time away from stressors, creative problem-solving, a sense of flow, and personal and existential insight. 

Kaimal, G., et al. (2019)

Finally, a study on emotional processing through art therapy for breast cancer patients stated, 

Emotional processing has been associated with improved physical and psychological health in survivors. Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that involves the use of visual artmaking for expression and communication. It encourages emotional processing and has been linked to symptom reduction in patients with cancer. 

Czamanski-Cohen, J., et al. (2020)

I learned that art therapy approaches helped patients, families, and caregivers by giving insight and ways to communicate and encourage optimism and safe expression before, during, and after hospitalisations. I also learned that art therapy gave patients, families, and caregivers ways to express complicated and difficult emotions, reaffirm a sense of identity, convey experiences to others, or distract from negative or challenging thoughts. Although I discovered multiple approaches to artmaking within these studies, I focused on drawing and colouring worksheets specifically because I wanted this programme to be easy, accessible, inclusive, and intuitive. As a result, I designed my research into colour and emotion, identity mapping, and storytelling into a set of simple activity worksheets intended for all ages. 

However, the recurring gap in each of these studies lies within the research design timeframe and impact measurements. For example, these studies took place relatively quickly, generally before and after surgery, and did not follow patients and families through different stages: diagnosis, pre-op and post-op, and recovery. Nor did these studies measure the well-being of patients, nurses, or their families over multiple sessions over time. Therefore, controlled testing of these materials with numerous groups of people using standardised psychological well-being tests before and after sessions over several weeks to gauge impact over a more extended period and find more effective ways to enhance the quality of life for those in need. 

In conclusion, I created these materials and subsequent activities to help increase the quality of people’s lives, create awareness around overlooked voices and experiences, and create a supportive sense of community and inclusion by designing artmaking activities that help people identify and better understand their emotions, regain a sense of identity, both mentally and physically and use art to help people understand different experiences and perspective through storytelling. However, after setting up the materials I designed and watching families interact with the worksheets and materials, I realised leading a workshop wasn't necessary. In response, the art club station stayed open for the duration of the exhibition, with materials and worksheets available for anyone visiting the show. While the art club worksheets offered easy-to-follow creative activities for families and children during the exhibition and at home. Finally, the workshop and resources acted as a pilot for a potentially more significant scheme that could introduce similar activities to charity family days and conduct future research into community well-being and enhanced quality of life. 

About 

The Brain Tumour Charity

We're dedicated to accelerating a cure and making a life-changing difference for every single person affected by a brain tumour. But we can't do it without you! Time is our affordable art exhibition that captures what it means to be part of the brain tumour community – from April 6 to April 15 2023, at the Business Design Centre in London. 

Dr Joshua Y’Barbo – BA, Pg Dip, MA, and PhD

For over 20 years, I have practised studio art as a digital printmaker. Since 2013, I have taught undergraduate and postgraduate Art, Design, and Theatre students. I also conducted research in Art History, Theory, and Practice at the University of the Arts London, where I gained expertise in socially engaged, participatory art and design. I have been an artist-in-residence with the TEAM LEWIS Foundation since 2016. I'm based in London but active across the UK, Europe, the US and APAC.

TEAM LEWIS Foundation

TEAM LEWIS Foundation (TLF) donates time, money and creative services to help charitable organisations achieve their ambitions. Take a look at what was achieved in 2022. TLF sponsored this Art Club for the Brain Tumour Charity Exhibition, Time. 

References: 

Art therapy (2022). Cancer Research UK. Available at: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/treatment/complementary-alternative-therapies/individual-therapies/art-therapy#:~:text=study (Accessed: April 6, 2023).

Councill, T. (2012). Medical Art Therapy with Children. Handbook of Art Therapy, Second Edition. Malchiodi, C.A., ed. The Guildford Press. 

Czamanski-Cohen, J., et al. (2020) Protocol for the REPAT study: role of emotional processing in art therapy for breast cancer palliative care patients. BMJ Open. 

Dolidze, K., Smith, E. L., and Tchanturia, K., (2013). A Clinical Tool for Evaluating Emotional Well-Being: Self-Drawings of Hospitalised Children. Journal of pediatric nursing: nursing care of children & families. Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.

Facing History and Ourselves, (nd). Identity charts. facinghistory.org. Available at: https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/identity-charts-1 (Accessed: April 7, 2023).

Kaimal, G., et al. (2019). Outcomes of art therapy and colouring for professional and informal caregivers of patients in a radiation oncology unit: A mixed methods pilot study. European Journal of Oncology Nursing 42 (2019) 153–161. 

Learning to Give, (nd). SEL: Identity Self-Portrait. www.learningtogive.org. Available at: https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/sel-identity-self-portrait (Accessed: April 7, 2023).

Maayot.com, (nd). Colours in Chinese. Available at: https://www.maayot.com/blog/colors-in-chinese/ (accessed May 9 2023). 

Mensa for Kids, (nd). The art of storytelling. Available at: https://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/the-art-of-storytelling/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023). 

Plutchik, R., (1980). Emotion: Theory, research, and experience: Vol. 1. Theories of emotion, vol. 1, New York: Academic. 

Reviews, GPS et al., (nd). Emoji Feelings Chart, Emoji Feelings Chart | Teaching Resources. Available at: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/emoji-feelings-chart-12561597 (Accessed: April 5, 2023). 

Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, (nd). Red: Perceiving Red. Available at: https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/art-stories/colors/red/#:~:text=In%20China%2C%20red%20is%20auspicious,color%20of%20celebrations%20and%20prosperity. (accessed April 9, 2023). 

The Getty: Explore, (nd). Telling Stories in Art. Available at: https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/classroom_resources/curricula/stories/#:~:text=Works%20of%20art%20often%20tell,%2C%20legendary%2C%20or%20mythic%20stories. (Accessed: April 7, 2023). 

The Kennedy Center, (nd). Visual storytelling. Available at: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/lessons-and-activities/lessons/k-2/visual-storytelling/ (Accessed: April 7, 2023). 

Unikavaev, (nd). Colour psychology. Available at: https://unikavaev.com/blog/color-psychology/#:~:text=Beginnings%20of%20Color%20Psychology,his%20book%20Theory%20of%20Colours. (Accessed: April 6, 2023).