Blazing a trail in art therapy, pioneer benefits from its healing power too

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Harriet Claire Wadeson loved to create works of art when she was growing up, but she never considered pursuing the solitary career of an artist. She was determined to be involved with others, she said, so she earned a bachelor's degree to become a therapist.

When she learned about the emerging field of art psychotherapy, "it was the marriage of my two major interests, and it was at a time that the field had only just begun," recalled Wadeson, 84, now retired and living in Evanston.

​Wadeson started working at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Md., to pursue her new passion. For 13 years she practiced art therapy and conducted research that was instrumental in developing the field. She went on to earn two master's degrees and completed a doctorate project that she incorporated into "Art Psychotherapy," one of the first books in the field. Seven more followed.

Wadeson directed the art therapy program at the University of Houston and established art therapy programs at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Northwestern University, as well as a summer institute in Lake Geneva, Wis., which attracted students from around the world. Objects gathered from her many trips to countries in Europe and Asia, where she traveled to spread the word about the healing power of art therapy, decorate her living room in an Evanston retirement community, which — at her urging — has hired two art therapists.

Among her many honors is the Marilyn Richman Legacy Award in 2015 from the Institute for Therapy through the Arts. Following is an edited conversation.

Click here to read the conversation.