September 14, 2017
Shawna Scarpitti, ATR-BC works full-time with adults contending with addiction issues at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches, a treatment center in Florida. Regarding the AATA community, Scarpitti shares that, “I have felt especially connected during all the AATA conferences I’ve attended, where a surge of enthusiasm and new knowledge always enlivens me and reminds me that I chose the ideal career to combine my love of art and my passion for helping others heal through art.” She continues, “[I]look forward to the AATA quarterly journals. I now have a collection that I am quite proud of on my bookcase—20 years of AATA journals! Watching my profession evolve and learning from our pioneers and current leaders in the field is inspiring.”
Since earning her MA in art therapy from Ursuline College in 1995, Scarpitti has worked with a variety of of mental health populations. She earned her BFA from Auburn University with a concentration in sculpture and maintains an active career in fine arts and. Scarpitti has shared her passion for creating by facilitating her program, “Art for Expression, Not Perfection,” with people in city-run community centers, psychiatric hospitals, and long term care facilities. She recently took a two month sabbatical from full-time art therapy employment to pursue her artistic passions directly. Scarpitti created a body of 20 new large-scale pieces and toured the northeast, bringing her large-scale tissue paper collages to outdoor art festivals during the summer of 2017. Visit her website to see more of her artwork.
She is passionate about art therapy because it “taps into our basic wiring as humans to be creative, to be heard, to tell our stories visually, and to feel good.” She hopes that “this profession will be more fully and legally recognized and honored for all that it is and that licensure is soon forthcoming to all states!”
“Dragonfly Eyes” by Shawna Scarpitti. July, 2017. Tissue paper collage on canvas. 4′ x 6′.