Abstract

The following qualitative research paper explores the process by which the here-and-now is cultivated in the student of art therapy and its potential implications for therapeutic transformation. The here-and-now is defined as the moment-to-moment awareness and attunement to presently occurring phenomena within the art therapy frame. In art therapy, the therapist and client are allied with the art and the process of its creation. Somewhere in the dynamic of this triangular relationship lies the here-and-now of art therapy. Using the model of heuristic inquiry (Moustakas, 1990), this paper reveals the investigative journey of the researcher as he explores the cultivation of the here-and-now through various experiential practices, literature, art making, and the phenomenological experience of his colleagues. For the researcher, the here-and-now emerges through a confluence of practices that include notions of mindfulness, embodiment, spontaneity, and an intimacy with the creative process.