Brief Bio
Viewed as a spiral, my life has continued to circle back to my identity as a visual artist, each time returning with deeper insight. The arts defined my family’s cultural identity; and drawing gave me satisfaction, solace, and an integrated sense of self as a child, adolescent, and young adult. I majored in painting at the Boston Museum School and studio arts at Brandeis University. In September of 2009, I received her MFA as a student at Massachusetts College of Art and Design at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.
My various careers in the arts have contributed to the depth and maturity of my visual art today: a writer at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts; an art therapist focusing on the creative abilities of abused children and adults with severe mental illness; the Associate Editor of the journal, Art Therapy; a full-time faculty member and Associate Professor in Lesley University’s Expressive Therapies Division; the Coordinator of Lesley’s Art Therapy Program; and a Senior PhD Advisor in their PhD Program. Now a full-time artist living in West Hartford, CT, I have exhibited works on paper in over 30 exhibitions over the past two years, earned numerous awards, and am represented in several private collections. I also teach at Springfield College and the West Hartford Art League.
Abbreviated Resume
SUSAN SPANIOL, EdD, ATR, LMHC, MFA
159 Selden Hill Drive, West Hartford, CT 06107
860-216-1391
sspaniol@comcast.net
susanspaniol.com
Education
MFA 2009 Developmental Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA
EdD 1993 Boston University School of Education and Counseling, Boston, MA
EdD 1979 Expressive Therapies, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
BFA 1965 Studio Arts, Brandeis University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, Waltham, MA
Awards
2010 Third Prize, CT + 5, West Hartford Art League, West Hartford, CT
2010 First Prize, Annual Jeried Exhibition, West Hartford Art League, CT
2008 Third Prize, Artist' Reactions to War, Truro Center for the Arts, MA
2007 Gallery Choice, Women’s Stories, Huron Valley Council for the Arts. Highland, MI
2006 Second Prize, Artist Members' Juried Exhibition, Cape Cod Art Association, Barnstable, MA
MFA Thesis Exhibitions:
2009 Alden Gallery, Provincetown, MA, September 11 - 21
2009 Provincetown Art Association and Museum, September 25 - October 11
Two-Person Exhibition
2005 Dual Exposure/Domestic Art, Marran Gallery, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 Independent Visions, River Street Gallery, New Haven, CT
2010 Shared Visions/Different Voices, Noah Webster Library, West Hartford, MA
2010 Art Walk, West Hartford Center, West Hartford Art League
2010 Faculty Exhibition, West Hartford Art League, West Hartford, CT
2010 Nine Lives, Doran Graduate Gallery, Mass. College of Art & Design, Boston, MA
2010 CT + 5: All New England Exhibition, West Hartford Art League, West Hartford, CT
2010 Annual Members' Juried, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, CT
2010 Lasting Impressions, Salem Fine Arts Center, Winston-Salem, NC
2005-09 Members’ Juried Exhibitions, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA
2005, 07 Spring Arts Festival Competitions, The Schoolhouse Gallery, Provincetown
2008 Artists’ Reactions to War, Castle Hill, Truro Center for the Arts, Truro, MA
2007 Passages and Process: The Unique Print, Printmakers of Cape Cod
2006 From Our Perspective, Womancenter, Oakland Community College, Farmington Hills, MI
2005 L’Or V’Dor: From Generation to Generation, Jewish Women Artists’ Network and Hebrew College National Juried Exhibition, Hebrew College, Newton, MA
2005 Overtures: Women’s Caucus for the Arts, Holyoke Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
2004 Art by Healers, School of Art and Design, Endicott College, Beverly, MA
2004 Linking the Arts & Healthcare: Fresh Ideas/New Voices, Regional Society for the Arts in Healthcare, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
Teaching Experience
2010 Adjunct Professor, Springfield College Department of Visual & Performing Arts
Selected Group Exhibitions
2010 Nine Lives, Doran Graduate Gallery, Mass. College of Art & Design, Boston, MA
Springfield, MA
2010 Instructor, West Hartford Art League, West Hartford, CT
1994-2005 Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, Positions Included:
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts and Social Sciences: Art Therapy
Program Coordinator; Research and Thesis Coordinator; Senior PhD Advisor
Fellow for the Center for Research; Adjunct Counseling Psycology and Creative Arts in Learning Programs