Featured Member: Mia Pierce

August 14, 2024

The American Art Therapy Association represents a diversity of professionals, students, and organizations across the nation. We recognize and celebrate the work of our members at all levels through our Featured Member series.

We invite Featured Members to share their insights about their art therapy journey. Mia Pierce is just beginning her Master’s program in art therapy and an AATA Student Member. She also serves as an intern in the AATA National Office 

What’s your involvement with AATA?

I am a student intern with AATA as I pursue my master’s degree in art therapy. I mostly engage with membership services and organizational work behind the scenes.

What are you most excited about in your FUTURE career as an art therapist?

For my future as an art therapist, I am most excited to explore the realms of creativity and engage with other art therapists to find new approaches to art therapy. In such an up-and-coming field there is so much room for new ideas, and I can’t wait to collaborate with the approaches that already exist in art therapy by adding ideas or art forms that might not have been utilized before.

“In such an up-and-coming field there is so much room for new ideas, and I can’t wait to collaborate with the approaches that already exist in art therapy by adding ideas or art forms that might not have been utilized before.”

—Mia Pierce

What are your hopes for the future of the art therapy profession?

My hopes for the future of art therapy are that the field continues to help as many people as possible by prioritizing inclusion and creating approaches that allow for art therapy in as many different settings as possible.

Mirrorballs

36″ x 36″ acrylic and oil painting on canvas
Mia Pierce

Artist Statement

This is an abstract take on a group of photos I took in the living room of my college apartment. The theme of my paintings over the last year was to capture my last moments as a college student and highlight the friendships I’ve made. Not only are disco balls used at dance clubs to reflect light around the room, but they also serve as a metaphor for how I feel about the relationships I’ve harbored in my early 20s. To be in a room with my close friends is to bounce ideas off of each other and serve as reflections of one another. The sparkling of mirrorballs coupled with the vibrant colors of our various lamps in my college living space perfectly encapsulate the feeling of growing up and leaving behind your first taste of adulthood.

This b*tch wants a marg

36″ x 48″ acrylic and oil painting on canvas
Mia Pierce

Artist Statement

I created this painting as an homage to my girlfriends throughout my college experience, some of our happiest moments occurring after escaping to the nearest bathroom at a bar to touch up our makeup and talk about nothing. This painting is littered with hints of my early adulthood from the purse I carried these last four years, and the girls that made it so special. My work represents the nostalgia that comes with growing up and moving on to the next chapter in life, capturing an experience that feels unique but is still so universal to female friendship.

 

About Mia Pierce

Mia just moved to New York from Texas to attend Pratt Institute and pursue her master’s degree in art therapy. Mia brings her experience from her previous role at Dallas Art Therapy, where she engaged in various art therapy community initiatives, to her current work. Through her work with AATA, Mia is hopeful to explore opportunities as a future art therapist. As an artist, she is passionate about art, its impact on mental health, and community involvement.

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