Automatism as a Means of Expression in Creativity: An Experimental Practice for Art Education Students

This study aims to determine the effect of automatism on the artistic creativity of art education students. The study employed a mixed-methods research approach. The participants were third-year students enrolled in the main art studio painting group in art education programs at two public universities in the Northeastern and Central Anatolia regions of Türkiye. At the quantitative stage, differences in students' cognitive levels regarding automatism and the automatist drawing (pre-test), automatist drawing (post-test 1), and music-accompanied automatist drawing (post-test 2) were examined through the development of an educational program. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to obtain students' experiences regarding the intervention process before and after the intervention. Data were obtained using a holistic rating scale, a rating scale, and a semi-structured interview form. Quantitative data were analyzed using a one-way repeated-measures MANOVA, while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Quantitative analyses have shown that students' cognitive levels and creativity changed significantly and positively after the intervention. Qualitative data showed that students gained theoretical knowledge and practical techniques related to automatism after the intervention and applied them in practice, resulting in positive well-being during the creativity phase. In addition, the pedagogical training produced significant differences in students’ use of color, texture, technique, and automatist expression.