Phenomenology of the Creative Process: A Multi-Method Investigation of Artistic Experience Among Nigerian Studio Artists

The creative process remains one of the most fundamental yet undertheorised aspects of artistic practice, with existing accounts drawing largely on psychological and sociological frameworks that may not fully capture the phenomenological dimensions of making art. This study develops an original phenomenological account of the creative process as experienced by Nigerian studio artists, contributing both theoretical development and empirical grounding to the field. The theoretical contribution is a phenomenological model of artistic creativity that identifies distinct phases including the pre-creative state, material engagement, the creative crisis, and the recognition of completion, each characterised by specific modes of embodied experience, temporal consciousness, and aesthetic judgment. The model draws on and extends the phenomenological philosophy of Merleau-Ponty and the ecological aesthetics of Tim Ingold to articulate how making art involves a constitutive entanglement of body, material, and environment. The empirical component uses a multi-method design including phenomenological interviews with 30 studio artists across Lagos, Enugu, Zaria, and Port Harcourt, process documentation through studio observation and think-aloud protocols, and analysis of artists' own reflective accounts in journals, statements, and interviews. The geographic diversity of the sample allows examination of whether different material traditions and studio environments produce phenomenologically distinct creative experiences. The theoretical framework integrates phenomenological philosophy, ecological art theory, and the empirical aesthetics literature. Findings contribute an original phenomenological framework to art theory, studio arts pedagogy, and the growing field of artistic research. Keywords: phenomenology, creative process, studio art, artistic experience, Nigerian artists