MC-345 - Textiles in Art Therapy with Women: Interweaving Historical and Personal Connection

Sam Wright is currently enrolled in Prescott College’s Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. She is pursuing an emphasis in Social Justice in Counseling, as well as a certificate in Expressive Arts Therapy. Sam was born in Texas but spent most of her childhood in Western Massachusetts before attending the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont in the Fall of 2010. There she obtained her Bachelors of the Arts in Psychology with a dual minor in Human Development & Family Studies and Studio Art. Sam spent her final undergraduate semester in Oaxaca, Mexico, carrying out a semester-long investigation on mental health in the cultural context. Upon graduating in the Summer of 2014, she decided to return to Oaxaca to solidify her proficiency in the Spanish language. During this time, she attended numerous workshops in graphic arts, printmaking, collage and fanzine elaboration, mainly through late Oaxacan artist Francisco Toledo’s artistic education center and museum, Centro de Artes San Agustín (CaSa). Additionally, she became certified as a translator and interpreter for English and Spanish languages. In 2017, Sam took part in an eight-month program for specialization in contemporary art in one of Oaxaca’s centers for visual arts, La Curtiduría. It was through this program that she explored new artistic media, including performance art, sculpture and installation. Although already a longtime textile crafter, it was during this period that she began to learn embroidery as an addition to her knowledge of sewing and knitting, understanding them as powerful artistic media, especially as tools for social justice-informed therapeutic work. In the Fall of 2019, Sam moved to Prescott, Arizona where she now resides. 

Dr. Margaret Carlock is an art therapist with over 28 years of experience working with individuals and groups. Much of her career has been focused on increasing accessibility to art therapy services to the public and creating creative arts based programs in a wide variety of settings, including schools, after school programs, day programs, community based mental health, memory care, assisted living, and most recently, she developed Chroma Soul Arts, an organization focused on providing community groups, workshops, and retreats, for individuals seeking social connection, self-care, and wellness based creative arts opportunities. She is an experienced art therapy and expressive arts therapy educator, with more than 23 years of teaching and directing higher education programs.