As a case study that consists of two parts, this research investigates how a pro-c class expert artist thinks and acts during art making, paying special attention to exploratory behaviors and task completion processes. In Part 1 of this case study, we videoed an artist's authentic creative process in his studio. We interviewed him about his…

Dance is a multifaceted creative act that has been used to communicate emotions throughout human evolution. Despite this history, there has been no empirical exploration of components of dance that allow it to communicate emotion. We address this with a mixed methods study in which a quantitative study with dance viewers builds upon qualitative…

The historically male-dominated discourse encompassing artistic creativity has often failed to acknowledge the voices and contributions of women. Female artists continue to face barriers in terms of accessing opportunities, attaining positions of prominence, and earning potential, in comparison with their male counterparts. This inequality is…

Artistic creativity has long been associated with physical and psychological suffering. This phenomenon has also been the subject of empirical research. The anguished "artistic genius" stereotype is ubiquitous, and there is evidence to suggest that artists may have heightened susceptibility to psychopathology. The present qualitative…

This article explores narratives of how COVID-19 impacted the performing arts sector, by drawing on interviews with creative workers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Despite the late exposure to COVID-19 and the adoption of an elimination approach that afforded opportunities for performing arts to continue to varying extents between 2019 and 2022,…

Prior studies suggest a multifaceted relationship between creativity and psychopathology, indicating that mild psychopathology might enhance creative behavior. Moreover, similar brain regions may be implicated in both creativity and psychosis. Although aberrant salience (AS) is often associated with psychotic disorders, it could also enhance…

The present study investigates how emerging/young and established/expert artists create artwork, paying special attention to modifications in the art-making process. Here, "process modification" is the means by which artists generate new artistic concepts by modifying elements of their previous artwork. To examine whether emerging…

The relationship between creativity and temperament has been well documented in studies with professional artists. This also pertains to affective temperaments which constitute the vulnerability to affective disorders. However, less is known about the contribution of particular temperaments to specific components of creativity, for example,…

Models of creative problem solving are predicated upon mental states to explain everything from the outcome of problem-solving experiments to the emergence of artistic creativity. We present two converging perspectives that describe a profoundly different ontological description of creativity. Our analysis proceeds from a distinction between…

Research on young people's aspirations and their capacity to aspire to higher education has proliferated in recent decades, however, very little attention has been paid to the creative arts. Diversity in the arts remains a persistent issue in many nations, and repeated attempts to promote diversity in the Australian arts community have had limited…

The present article introduces, develops, and illustrates a perspectival framework for the creative process drawing on current developments within the cultural psychology of creativity and the social theory of George Herbert Mead. The creative process is conceptualized as a form of action by which actors, materially and symbolically, alone and in…

The aim of the article was to investigate how the family life of highly creative individuals--mainly marriages or romantic relationships--is related to their sense of success and well-being. Previous studies have led to conflicting conclusions. The predominant finding has been that marriage and family constitute an obstacle to creative potential…

Research on creative artists has examined mainly their personality traits or cognitive abilities. However, it seems important to explore also their emotional traits to complete the profile. This study examines two emotional characteristics: alexithymia and affect intensity. Even if most research suggests that artists are less alexithymic and…

This paper reports on an interview study with MFA students in two different full-time MFA degree programs in painting. The interviews were conducted as part of two ethnographic studies, each one academic year in length, of art and design schools at two U.S. universities. The goal was to explore the extended process whereby MFA student artists, in…

Harold Cohen is a renowned painter who has developed a computer program, AARON, to create art. While AARON has been hailed as one of the most creative AI programs, Cohen consistently rejects the claims of machine creativity. Questioning the possibility for AI to model human creativity, Cohen suggests in so many words that the human mind takes a…