June 19, 2019
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Dr. Gladys Agell, ATR-BC, HLM on Sunday, June 16, 2019 at the age of 88. Dr. Agell was the AATA’s 9th President (1983-1985) and received Honorary Life Membership in 1986 for her outstanding and pioneering contributions to the Association and the profession as a clinician, educator, researcher, and editor.
As a clinician, Dr. Agell started providing art therapy to children, adolescents, and adults in 1967. As an educator, Dr. Agell founded and directed the Graduate Art Therapy Program at Vermont College of Norwich University. As a researcher, Dr. Agell was dedicated to furthering research outcomes in the field. Over the last 30 years, AATA’s Gladys Agell Award for Excellence in Research has supported student members who have demonstrated high quality work in research. Dr. Agell also served as an Editor of the field’s first journal, the American Journal of Art Therapy (formerly founded as the Bulletin of Art Therapy by Elinor Ulman.) Read her full obituary here.
Memories and quotes about Dr. Agell are welcome and will help create a larger tribute for an upcoming issue of Art Therapy Today; please send submissions to info@arttherapy.org by July 5, 2019.