Before we dive into the course material, take 15-20 minutes to use drawing materials to make a piece of artwork that illustrates a thought (or thoughts) you have about the idea of digital art therapy. You might illustrate a bias you have for or against technology, a preference, an observation your have made, or something that you've heard about in the news.

Developments in art parallel developments in science. As technology progresses artists have a greater range of materials at their disposal to use in innovative and unprecedented ways. Developments in pigments, binders, and substrates have allowed painting to be more permanent, adhere to a greater range of surfaces, blend across a spectrum of tones and values, have a variety of textures, and become increasingly safe to use. Technological advances in art materials were not universally welcomed or adopted at their inception. For example, the development of darkroom photography was met with derision as artists practicing in traditional media viewed photographers as practitioners and usurpers (Trachtenberg, 1980). Luddites considered attempts to capture images of the world, what they viewed as God’s creation, as a form of blasphemy. These factors lead some photographers to adopt practices such as smearing their lenses with grease to create soft focus effects, or heavily retouching their negatives to make their work more closely resemble paintings. Eventually, advances in cameras and printing techniques, coupled with an increased acceptance of the medium as an art form, allowed photographers to define their medium by its own strengths and merits. Similarly, as altered book artist Brian Dettmer (2015) explains, photography allowed painting to “quit its day job. It allowed painting to not have to have that everyday chore of telling the story, and became free to tell its own story.”

The last 50 years have seen not only the birth of the personal computer and the internet but digital cameras, sophisticated software for photo-editing and digital animation, printers that use polymers to create objects in three dimensions, and even virtual reality devices. Yet, despite these advances, the use of digital technology within the field of art therapy remains highly controversial. Many art therapists continue to privilege the traditional fine art materials used in painting, drawing, and sculpting with clay (Moon, 2010) while others increasingly embrace the use of technological devices in their studios.