Portraiture Research:
The Effects of Art on Mental Health and Well-Being
Background​
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One of my primary interests in the field of art education is the impact of art education on students. Particularly, in how it impacts mental health and overall well-being. Students in today's day and age face multiple challenges within school at any age level compared to years prior. On top of academic pressures students face on the daily, they are met with challenges regarding social difficulties, personal development, outside influences on their lives, and the challenges of just being human. For school age children, these can start to add up. My area of interest is looking at how the arts impact these challenges and in what ways teachers can write their curriculum to help their students to cope or even express the challenges they face.
Art is something that is not consistently valued across the US. By conducting this research, I wish to highlight the importance of including art in curriculum for the student well-being aspect to show how highly valued art education should be. My research will also highlight the needs of the teachers in order to support their students. Through interviews I hope to highlight the importance of art education and how teachers can inspire students while also fostering a positive environment for students to learn and grow.
​​Research Design
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For my research I decided to interview both Florin Firimita and Kimberly Saginario. Florin is not only a high school teacher but also a practicing fine artist who has insight on what art can do for one’s mental health. Kimberly is an elementary school teacher who engages with a wide variety of K-5 students incorporating differentiated instruction in nearly every class. She will be providing insight as to what art can do in terms of a child’s mental well-being. The questions in this interview are different for each subject but are aimed at gathering information as to how art affects mental health and well-being both as a student and in the long run.
Discussion/Analysis​
These interviews truly opened my own eyes to the benefit of art in a person’s life. While I had my own personal understanding of how important art education is in my own context, it was very enlightening to hear personal narratives from other experienced educators.
What fascinated me most was hearing two educators from different school levels discuss whether art serves as a stressor or a stress reliever. Research from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) supports the idea that art can significantly reduce stress, particularly for adolescents facing developmental challenges. For instance, their studies indicate that art engagement is linked to improved emotional well-being, especially during middle and high school years when students encounter identity struggles and academic pressures (Menzer, 2015).
The Arts Education Partnership (AEP) further emphasizes that art becomes increasingly therapeutic as students grow older, aligning with developmental patterns. Their reports show that younger children often engage
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in art primarily for exploration and creativity, while older students turn to it as a vital outlet for emotional expression and stress management.
A specific NEA report, The Arts in Early Childhood: Social and Emotional Benefits of Arts Participation, highlights that early artistic activities like drawing and painting foster critical social-emotional skills. This foundation may explain why, as students mature, art becomes a necessary tool for navigating complex life challenges (Menzer, 2015). These findings, alongside these interviews, underscore the growing importance of art in education, especially for older students grappling with heavier academic workloads and personal milestones.
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Sources
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Menzer, Melissa. “Looking at the Social and Emotional Benefits of the Arts.” National Endowment for the Arts, NEA, 21 Dec. 2015, https://www.arts.gov/stories/blog/2015/looking-social-and-emotional-benefits-arts. Accessed 1 Dec. 2024.
