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The Role of Mindfulness in Viewing and Making Art in Children and Adults

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Abstract

Objectives

Mindfulness training has been shown to have robust attentional and cognitive benefits. However, little is known about its effects on viewing and making art. Here, we explored the effects of mindfulness-based manipulation in art viewing and art making in two studies.

Methods

In Study 1, elementary school children (N = 59) participated in an art tour of the Kidspace gallery at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), and viewed and made artworks either with or without mindfulness manipulation. In Study 2, university students (N = 193) were randomly assigned to either the mindfulness or the control condition, and also viewed and made artworks.

Results

In Study 1, elementary students who received mindfulness induction (vs. control) reported a larger difference in excitement levels between previously seen versus new artworks, expressing more excitement about the old vs. new artworks. Further, the artworks created by children in the mindfulness (vs. control) condition were rated by independent judges as more creative and more complex. In Study 2, university students who received the mindfulness (vs. control) induction reported better memory for previously seen vs. new artworks. Their own artworks were rated by independent judges as more creative, abstract, and expressive compared to the participants in the control condition.

Conclusions

Together, results suggest that mindfulness-based practices may result in a deeper art viewing experience, and in personal art that is more creative and expressive in both children and adults.

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Funding

This research was supported in part by the Mind & Life Institute, Francisco J. Varela Grant, 002869-00001A to DLZ.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychological Science, University of Arkansas, 480 Campus Drive, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Darya L. Zabelina

  2. University of New Hampshire, Manchester, NH, USA

    Rebecca A. White

  3. Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams, MA, USA

    Amanda Tobin & Laura Thompson

Authors
  1. Darya L. Zabelina
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  2. Rebecca A. White
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  3. Amanda Tobin
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  4. Laura Thompson
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Contributions

DLZ: designed the study, performed data analysis, and wrote the paper. RAW: Executed the study and wrote part of the Introduction, Methods, and the Discussion sections. AT and LT designed the mindfulness manipulation, assisted in data collection, and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript for submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darya L. Zabelina.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics Statement

These studies have been approved by the University of Arkansas ethics committee and have therefore been performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments.

Informed Consent Statement

All participants gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study.

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Zabelina, D.L., White, R.A., Tobin, A. et al. The Role of Mindfulness in Viewing and Making Art in Children and Adults. Mindfulness 11, 2604–2612 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01474-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-020-01474-8

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