Art Therapist

The Practice

Not all things are best expressed in words...the symbolic work of following one's images is a significant way to deepen and further process.

Teaching Art Diagnosis to students from around the world, I have seen just how profoundly the psyche communicates through art.

I have been developing a technique since then, an in depth process of how to know a person through their artwork — the Qualitative Depth Assessment Technique (QDAT). All elements of art such as the style of how a person works, material choices, color, space, form, line, focal points, and content symbolism – are studied through experiential and didactic techniques.

Within these studies, a particular area of focus for me is color symbolism, as I have been collecting color associations and observing the relationship between color and psyche since I first began teaching Art Diagnosis.

Learning about masks in the African traditions in the 1960s changed my life; masks became another specialty for me and I have integrated that into my teaching and psychotherapy practice as well.

As a MARI Mandala Assessment practitioner (maricreativeresources.com), and then teacher, starting in 1995, I am a specialist in work with mandalas. This study has been a huge contribution to my knowledge of color and form in artwork.