February 14, 2019
Lynn Cukaj, ATR-BC has worked in the field of art therapy for 20 years and in preschool education for seven. She currently provides community-based art therapy programs in New York and focuses on mindfulness techniques. The components of her AATA membership Cukaj finds the most valuable are the “online continuing education courses and the weekly open forum digest, which provides much needed information to keep me up to date about the art therapy community.”
Cukaj offers a caregiver support group at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains through the Alzheimer’s Association and a parent support art and meditation group at Somers Library, where she helps participants incorporate art and meditation skills into everyday life. She also facilitates a weekly after school group, Creative Expressions, at Primrose Elementary and recently started two art therapy groups at Railyard Art Studios in Croton Falls.
“Art therapy is a way to make the non-verbal visible and concrete and help those without words connect with their emotions,” says Cukaj. In the future, she hopes to see “more schools utilize art therapy as a way to connect with students and parents in order to improve social emotional health.”
“Degas’s Beach” by Lynn Cukaj. Oil paint. 2015.
Artist’s statement: “In honor of Edgar Degas. The serenity and peacefulness of the ocean is balanced with the incoming storm cloud. This piece was part of a juried art show, ‘Up Jumped Spring’ hosted by New Rochelle Council on the Arts in 2017.”