Pratt Institute Graduate School of Art, 2018

Coll, G. (2018, May). Weaving/Healing: An Arts Based Autoethnography. Master of Science (Art and Design Education), Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York.

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This is an arts-based, autoethnographic study to understand how textile art-making has fostered my well-being. The purpose of this study is to examine my relationship with mental illness, the traumatic circumstances that shaped my journey, and the textile art-making that became my method of coping.

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My data collection was a three-step process. The first was the development of a personal timeline outlining my life from birth to present day. Interviews with selected people informed the process. Then, I used my own textile art as data to further dissect the strenuous experience of understanding my mental illness. Through a hand-weaving process titled Weaving/Healing, I chose parts of my journey to explore through colors, materials, and designs, which symbolized specific moments within my personal timeline. Lastly, I reflected in my journal on my emotions and memories that surfaced after each weaving session.

The significance of this study lies in my method of building self-awareness in my
personal life and as a future art educator. This self-study process I have developed to dissect, analyze, and reflect on lived experiences has been empowering and transformative.

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Keywords: arts-based, autoethnography, weaving, self-reflection, self-study, trauma, mental illness, memory, textile art, emotional literacy