FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          MEDIA CONTACT: Matt Lindsay

June 10, 2003                                                        (202) 994-1423; mlindsay@gwu.edu

ARTIST AND ART THERAPIST BRENDA BARTHELL TO EXHIBIT

AT GW’s DIMOCK GALLERY

JUNE 18-JULY 2

EVENT:          Works of Fiction, an exhibit by artist, educator, and art therapist Brenda Barthell, sponsored by The George Washington University’s Dimock Gallery and GW’s Graduate Art Therapy Program.

WHEN:           Exhibit dates: June 18 – July 2, 2003

                        Gallery hours: Tuesday – Thursday, 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

                        Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

WHERE:        The George Washington University

Dimock Gallery, Lisner Auditorium – Lower Level       

730 21^st Street, NW

Washington, D.C. (Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro, Blue and Orange lines)

BACKGROUND:

The creation of art is “a means to discover both the self and the world, and to establish a relation between the two,” said Elinor Ulman, one of the founders of the field of art therapy.  This basis to create art has influenced Brenda Barthell’s work in the field.  Barthell’s series of watercolor and mixed media paintings represents an intuitive process that invites previously unknown images to emerge.  As an artist, Barthell’s intention is to convey a mood and let a painting speak with as few words as possible.

Brenda Barthell received her fine arts degree from Northwestern University and her

master’s degree in art therapy from GW. She has also studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Art League School of Alexandria, and is a member of the Art League of Alexandria, Potomac Valley Watercolorists, Virginia Watercolor Society and the Springfield Art Guild. Barthell has been exhibiting since 1985 and her work is in private collections in the United States and England.

The Graduate Art Therapy Program, established at GW in 1971, was one of the first to be developed in the United States and one of the first to receive approval from the American Art Therapy Association. The program’s philosophy has been influenced by the teachings of the founders of art therapy - Edith Kramer, Hanna Yaxa Kwiatkowska, Bernard Levy and Elinor Ulman - who also were associated with the development of the GW program. The art therapist’s unique competence lies in the capacity to use art therapeutically, to improve functioning and to gain the insights that may be obtained through the creative process.

Barthell has been associated with the GW Art Therapy Program for 20 years and will be retiring in June from her position as assistant professor of art therapy and assistant director of the art therapy program.

For information about the GW University Art Galleries, call (202) 994-1525.

For information about the Art Therapy Program, call (202) 994-6285.

For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.

-GW-