To the Board and all Members of NYATA:

It has taken me a while to get a letter to you.  I received a beautiful plaque for HLM just after New Year’s.  Now, I want to express how much I am moved by NYATA  giving me this honor.

I was away when I received a call from Susan Boxer Kappel at the end of October  to ask me to come to a  NYATA meeting.  Little did I know she had been trying to reach me for a few weeks and when she reached me I was far north and could not be around for that meeting.  I am so sorry I missed that meeting because I only heard about the award being given for  HLM for NYATA after the meeting!  So, I would like to make a special thank you to Beth Gonzalez-Dolginko, colleague and longtime friend for being there for me and actually being such a supporter for as long as I have known her, since I was at Pratt as a graduate student and at the Henry Street School where we worked together. 

I have been involved in art therapy since the early 1970’s and have attended every AATA Conference since 1976.  I have so much respect for this field and how the creative process is a segue to healing in every area of our lives, all ages, all populations.  

Although I have been an art therapist in venues from medical to educational, from individual to group with a variety of populations, from workshops to lecturing, I now spend my time teaching visual perception and keeping a strong connection to the Jungian Institute.  I teach about creative process as metaphor for self. It is a didactic setting using theory and conceptual thinking with practical applications for graduate students in all fields of visual communications, but most specifically to graphic designers.  

My course on visual perception has been part of an exciting journey for me. I believe that the whole concept of visual perception has come a long way, especially when it comes to our field of art  therapy.  To understand art therapy and how it actually works, visual perception synthesizes with the techniques and psychodynamic approaches we use. 

Teaching has been my mission for 22 years at Pratt while I maintained a private practice in the past. And when active in NYATA, I was Vice-President as well as the creator of the NYATA Newsletter.  I loved being a part of the Board. It was a way to help contribute and communicate change and vision in our field.  Being on the Board was one of the most fulfilling parts of my involvement  in our profession.

I do not know many of you who are part of NYATA now, but I would like to say being part of it and part of Art Therapy is a journey we are still on. Although I am not as active as I used to be, I still believe that by keeping the art (and the arts) in the therapeutic process, we have a special gift we offer to healing. I still believe our profession  is viable and needs all the recognition it can get. 

So, in closing, I thank you kindly for the recognition although I have to admit it took me by surprise!   This plaque will go in a very special place on the wall and in my heart, next to another special plaque from NYATA, the Pam Clark Award.  For me, that award brings memories of a special friend who was dedicated to Art Therapy, and would be proud of how our field has grown and is still vibrant.

Sincerely and honored,

     I was the Fieldwork Coordinator at Pratt Institute for most of the 1980's.  Back then; it was pretty much unheard of for a Pratt graduate to accept and supervise NYU students and vice versa.  Pam Clark thought that practice was ridiculous and called to ask for a Pratt Student.  She felt that we could all learn so much more from each other if we would be willing to supervise students from art therapy programs other than the ones we had attended.  I used to affectionately call her the "crossover kid," and I was always willing to send her students.  As a supervisor, Pam was conscientious and diligent.  She attended Supervisor's Meetings and was both curious, to learn what Pratt was all about, and vocal, regarding her role as a supervisor and mentor.

     As were many others, I was saddened by Pam's untimely death.  I felt that NYATA and art therapists in New York had lost someone who had made a difference and would have continued to do so.  I remember going into the art therapy office in Willoughby Hall the following week and posting a big sign announcing Pam Clark's passing to inform faculty members and students alike.  I did so with a heavy heart and great respect and felt strongly that Pam's memory belonged there.

     The Pam Clark Distinguished Service Award was awarded for several years and then seemed to fall away from our tradition.  When I was NYATA President in the lake 1990's we needed to amend our bylaws and officers to comply with AATA for chapter status.  To comply with AATA, one of the membership categories was Honorary Life Member, which we began to confer.  At the same time, some of us on the Board remembered the Pam Clark Distinguished Service Award and reinstated it at the same time.  I am proud to be a recipient of that award and to stand among others who have devotedly served NYATA, including Pam herself.

Beth Gonzalez-Dolginko, MPS, ATR-BC, LCAT
Former New York Art Therapy Association President
NYATA HLM
8.8.06