Penn State ADRI: Arts & Design Research Incubator

ADRI represents Bill Doan’s drawing/anxiety study—now published. Congrats Bill and colleagues!

Myruski, S., Penner, M., Buss, K. A., & Doan, W. J. (2026). Inhale, exhale, draw: A guided drawing and mindfulness intervention for anxiety reduction. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, , 18. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000838

Penn State ADRI: Arts & Design Research Incubator, Emotion Development Lab at Penn State access via your library but would like a copy, let me know.

Myruski, S., Penner, M., Buss, K. A., & Doan, W. J. (2026). Inhale, exhale, draw: A guided drawing and mindfulness intervention for anxiety reduction. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, 18. doi:https://doi.org/10.1037/aca0000838

Last week's talk at the Research Incubator featured Ann Holt, titled: Living Arts and Living Entities: Relational Social Justice Pedagogies of Wayfaring. Thanks, Ann!

Affiliate faculty member in our research incubator, Steven Rubin is promoted to Distinguished Professor. Congrats, Steven!

Documentary photographer Steven Rubin named Penn State distinguished professor | Penn State University Steven Rubin, professor of art in the College of Arts and Architecture’s School of Visual Arts, has been named distinguished professor in recognition of outstanding academic contribution to Penn State. A documentary photographer whose work highlights critical and contemporary issues including heal...

“CONTACT,” a video game that allows players to experience and learn about bacteria communities as if they were looking into a microscope. This immersive video game is developed by Andrew Hieronymi, associate professor in Penn State’s School of Visual Arts.

Undergrad research project explores neurophysiology of people with perfect pitch | Penn State University In collaboration with the College of Arts and Architecture’s Pitch Exploration Lab, and supported by a 2025 Erickson Discovery Grant, third-year undergraduate student Joanna Kieran-Mendez has set out to better understand what makes perfect pitch so extraordinary.

Undergraduate student Joanna “Joey” Kieran Mendez is the labs project coordinator featured in the news at Penn State today. Go Joey!

The only short film in the returning filmmakers’ block we haven’t covered yet is the animated short Crowboy. Crowboy was directed by a sibling animation team, Alexander and Cynthia S. White, and based on the artwork and writing of William Doan. This same dream team worked on Sticks and Stones, a film about men’s mental health and masculine pressure that played in the festival a few years back. I find their hand-drawn, storybook animation style visually stunning, and am pulled in right away by the organic, sketchy look.

Crowboy might not immediately jump out as being on point for the topic of mental health, but it’s important to recall how expressive and open to interpretation animation can be. While the narrative almost sounds like a children’s fable, the gothic illustrations give it a moody and ethereal vibe hinting at a darkness and loneliness beneath. The pictures are really what carry the unspoken words though, as they hint at a sense of melancholy and isolation that is a central part of childhood loneliness.

You still have time to watch Crowboy in Shorts Block No. 5, the returning filmmakers’ block, for FREE from now until 11/2:

https://mentalfilmness2025.eventive.org/films/crowboy-68c746555c0e06f0a96d0bb3

Cast your virtual ballot, and tell us what YOU think!

What else are ADRI publishing? Previous books include First There was Chaos by Graphic Design chair Joel Priddy. Bravo!