Art and Social Interaction: How College Students Spark Creativity, Purpose and Joy in Institutional Settings

This second edition expands upon a program that teaches expressive visual arts activities to college students to share with individuals in jails, nursing homes, psychiatric facilities, domestic abuse shelters and youth care centers. Creating expressive art through interaction with those affected, students gain an intimate awareness of crime; mental illness; substance, child, domestic abuse; and aging—critical issues of our time. Specially designed projects in drawing, painting, collage, sculpture and crafts are supplemented with student reflections on how the experience influenced their lives and future careers plus institutional evaluation on the effectiveness of the program on their clientele. Delivering everything needed to set up the course in any liberal arts college, the book covers planning, execution, projected outcomes and evaluation, offering students an education relevant to their lives and careers while giving institutions a dynamically effective program of self-enhancement through the arts. Colour versions of many projects can be viewed online at www.routledge.com/9781032972008.