The young visual artist : exploring his psychological make up and perceptions of himself as an artist and of female and male artists

Abstract

This dissertation explores the psychological make up and perceptions young and local visual artists. By means of six semi structured interviews, results show that young artists go through a journey of development based on experimenting, experience and training. Results show how young artists perceive an artist and give an experiential account of the process of creating. Internal and external factors are sources of influences for young artists, though cutting the line between the two influences turns out to be challenging. Intuition, social concern, emotions, and change are the resulting personal traits which make the artists, creative individuals. The study aims at increasing a psychological understanding about artists and creativity, and possibly emphasizing the importance of art within psychology.