December 1, 2020 | Susan Ainlay Anand, ATR-BC, ATCS, LPAT, and Gretchen Miller, ATR-BC, ACTP
“A Portrait of Lani Gerity Glanville” by Zachary Van Den Berg. Oil on Canvas. November 25, 2020.
It is with deep sorrow that we mourn the sudden death of art therapist, puppetmaker, artist, and author Lani Gerity Glanville, DA, ATR. At 67, after recently being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, she passed away on November 25, 2020. Lani was active in the Association as a regular conference presenter. She often had an arts and crafts marketplace table selling her puppets, dolls, ezines, and mixed media art. In 2015, Lani was a keynote speaker with Susan Ainlay Anand presenting about the legacy of Edith Kramer at the AATA Conference in Minneapolis, MN.
Lani received her master’s and doctorate degrees in art therapy from New York University (NYU), studied with Edith Kramer, edited Edith’s book, Art as Therapy: Collected Papers(2001) and published two additional books: Creativity and the Dissociative Patient: Puppets, Narrative, and Art in the Treatment of Survivors of Childhood Trauma (1999) and co-edited, The Legacy of Edith Kramer: A Multifacted View (2018). She also authored many journal articles and book chapters in the field.
Many in the art therapy and art community also followed Lani’s creative activity on social media and online through her blogging, online groups, and daily artist pages she created and posted every morning to share messages of encouragement, hope, and the power of art. At the time of her death, Lani was living in Ottawa, Canada with her husband Edward and is also survived by her mother Betty Cole and sisters Lucia Yu and Lois Cole.
Friends and colleagues have organized a digital memorial service to celebrate the life of Lani on Saturday, January 9, 2021, 10:00-11:00 a.m. EST. We invite you to attend. Please RSVP here.