The El Duende. This is a process that I had the opportunity to engage in during a quarter long course this past Spring. I have to be honest, this short-term version of the El Duende had me a bit stumped. I felt intimidated to approach something that I knew I would not have an extended period to complete, after I had done the same process across the span of ten weeks. As described in Chilton et al. (2020), the El Duende Process Painting (EDPP) was originally designed for arts-based supervision involving painting and repainting a large canvas to be viewed and discussed as it relates to one’s clinical experience and training. But how would I go about engaging in this practice on a 9”x12” canvas board in the span of a couple of hours? I sometimes find it hard to pull myself out of product-based work as it pertains to my own art practice. So, as I began, I had to really allow myself to lean into the process and simply engage with the materials I had. I used primarily tempera paint and some acrylic that I had been given from a family friend that is a school teacher. I began moving the paints around, allowing them to rest, scraping them off, adding some shapes, eventually leading me into my final phase of the painting. I return again to the narrative of home, which is something I find myself using in many of my pieces across a variety of media. This particular process was in response to my experience surrounding the 2020 presidential election day, and I titled it “World on Fire.” I felt engaged in sensory and affective aspects, as well as symbolic and cognitive components of self, as images started to emerge from the “fire” so to speak.
For the short term El Duende process, I feel that working with adults with Depressive disorders could be considered. Robb and Miller (2017) talk about the supervisor-supervisee use of EDPP, and how self-disclosure, expression, and being known by others were vital positive outcomes of the process. The short term, or mini, EDPP can provide a small physical container for expression as not to overwhelm persons experiencing depressive disorders. Additionally, the use of paint, a fluid medium, can assist in accessing more affectual components of self to allow for self-expression and understanding beyond what verbal discourse alone can provide.
References
Chilton, G., Lynskey, K., Ohnstad, E., & Manders, E. (2020). A Case of El Duende: Art-Based Supervision in Addiction Treatment. Art Therapy, 1-9. doi:10.1080/07421656.2020.1771138
Robb, M., & Miller, A. (2017). Supervisee Art-Based Disclosure in El Duende Process Painting. Art Therapy, 34(4), 192-200. doi:10.1080/07421656.2017.1398576
