The workshop is a continuation of Introductory Lecture II: Art Educational Therapy and Writing-Images. Participants are invited to take part in a creative project and thereby acquire experience of art educational therapy and the possibilities provided by the method. Participants must already have acquired some understanding of art therapy and art educational therapy by attending lecture(s) and/or foundation courses on art therapy and art educational therapy, such as Introductory Lectures I and II: What is Art Educational Therapy? and Art Educational Therapy and Writing-Images.

In the art educational therapy (AET) research project introduced in this course, coursework is integrated into art therapy with the aim of facilitating emotional well-being and coursework learning. Theories concerning “writing-images”, which emerged in the study are introduced. The concept “writing-images” refers to drawn images of alphabetical letters and numbers, which form part of the methods of art educational therapy.

During a specific developmental phase, many children draw letter shapes before they develop knowledge about phonetics and symbols that make up the letters of the alphabet. This period is called the “writing-images stage”. Ways to work with “writing-images” with the goal of restoring, strengthening and preserving the educational foundation that was formed during the writing-images stage are presented in the course. Simultaneously, emotional expression through art making is observed through the prism of art therapy. In the course, an emphasis is placed on the importance of paying attention to children’s writing-images. The practical aspects of writing-images with regard to therapy and education are also discussed.

Participants are invited to take part in a creative project and thereby acquire experience of art educational therapy and the possibilities provided by the method.