This study examined the psychological effects of art making in a sample of 57 undergraduate students. One week prior to final examinations, participants were randomly assigned to either an art-making group or a control group. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory was administered before and after participation. Art making activities included painting or coloring pre-designed mandalas, free-form painting, collage making, still life drawing, and modeling with clay. The mean state anxiety score between pre-activity and post-activity decreased significantly in the art-making group, whereas no difference was found in the control group. Similarly, the mean trait anxiety score between pre-activity and post-activity in the art-making group was significantly lower, and no difference was observed in the controls. These findings suggest that a brief period of art making can significantly reduce a person's state of anxiety, which may have implications for art and art therapy programs that offer methods for helping college students and others coping with stress.
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Sandmire et al. (2012) studied this question.