detail photo of off white and neon yellow knitting swatch

Lectures & Workshops

ART & WELLBEING, ART THERAPY, CRAFT, AND ACTIVISM

In addition to over a decade of experience teaching art therapy and counseling at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I’ve also provided presentations and workshops on the intersections of mental health, creativity, and activism, about art and wellbeing, art therapy, the therapeutic potential of craft, and craft activism in a variety of settings—from museums to nonprofit organizations, academic conferences to community centers, including:

  • American Art Therapy Association Conference

  • Art Hives Summer Institute

  • Boston College

  • Coalition of Student Employee Unions

  • Fuller Craft Museum

  • Harvard University

  • Lesley University

  • Lewis & Clark College

  • Mount Auburn Cemetery

  • Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists

  • Northeastern University

  • Notre Dame de Namur University

  • Pratt University

  • Rhode Island School of Design

  • Somerville Public Library

  • Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

  • Whittier Street Health Center

  • Woodlawn & Pope-Leighey House

  • World Art Therapy Conference

  • YMCA Roxbury

Some examples of lectures and workshops:

UPCOMING:

PREVIOUS EXAMPLES:

  • Mindful Stitching, at the Aplomb Gallery and via Zoom, September 29, 2024

  • Therapeutic Community Art Workshop: Creating Portable Shrines for Your Loved One(s), at Mount Auburn Cemetery, June 15, 2024

  • Using Art to Explore What Matters Most to Us: Art & Wellbeing, at the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, November 6, 2023– workshop

  • Stitching Stories: Feminist Care Pedagogy, Home/Making: Intersections of Craft and Home Symposium, at Concordia University, May 12-13, 2023 (with Savneet Talwar and Shelly Goebl-Parker) – panel

  • Fiber Crafts: Care Pedagogy and Public Art Therapy, at the World Art Therapy Conference, February 18, 2023 (with Savneet Talwar and Shelly Goebl-Parker) – panel

  • Craft in Art Therapy: The Transformative Potential of Craft, at Fuller Craft Museum (with Mikey Anderson, Marilyn Holmes, Rachel Wallis, and Sandie Yi) – panel moderator and speaker

  • Crafting Change: Craft Activism and Community-Based Art Therapy, at the 49th annual American Art Therapy Association Annual Conference – paper presentation

If you’re interested in booking me for a speaking engagement or workshop, contact me for a free 15-minute consultation. I’d love to chat with you about potential lectures or workshops!

My experience as an educator

I have almost a decade of experience teaching art therapy and counseling at the undergraduate graduate and levels. My approach is informed by feminist theory, critical pedagogy, and anti-oppressive practice. My research and expertise lie in community-based art therapy, socially engaged craft practices, the historical and contemporary uses of craft as a form of resistance against social and political oppression, and how craft can provide a medium for engaging in art therapy with liberatory aims. I believe art therapy theory and practice must be founded on a commitment to social justice.

As an educator, my primary goal is to help students develop critical consciousness so they can come to understand their worlds through a socio-cultural lens, and then effect change based on this awareness. As such, I incorporate collaborative and active learning strategies and aim to create a classroom space where community and knowledge are co-created. Knowledge is not neutral and learning and teaching are not neutral acts—there is power imbued in the process; I’m invested in approaches that name and analyze that power and encourage personal development of power.

Want to learn more?

Reach out for a free 15-minute phone consultation.