Kentucky Art Therapy Association

Kentucky Art Therapy Association KYATA is an official chapter of AATA. Many members are practicing Art Therapists in a variety of settings, and are involved in their local communities.

We provide professional trainings, professional contacts, public information, networking, and creative renewal opportunities for our members; we also provide educational opportunities & general information to related professions and organizations.

Join us March 21st, 2026, for our spring KYATA art meet up at Compass Counseling and Psychology Services in Lyndon, KY. ...
02/28/2026

Join us March 21st, 2026, for our spring KYATA art meet up at Compass Counseling and Psychology Services in Lyndon, KY. This art experience will explore how art therapists can collaboratively and creatively repurpose medical supplies with clients to support therapeutic expression across inpatient and outpatient care.

From 1 to 2pm, we will practice together by transforming empty pill bottles into an on-the-go 5-senses jar to be used for grounding and self-regulation. If you have a special small charm at home that you find grounding to you and it fits in a pill bottle, bring it! Also, if you have an empty pill bottle you would like to repurpose for reclaiming your own medical supplies, bring it along too! We will also provide materials.

Then, from 2 to 3pm, we will host our board meeting.

We look forward to seeing you there! Follow this link to sign up:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/what-the-doctor-prescribed-reclaiming-medical-supplies-in-art-therapy-tickets-1984165072143?aff=oddtdtcreator

Announcing KYATA T-shirt Design Contest 2026Submit your designs for KYATA's official 2026 T-shirt! Submissions will be v...
02/20/2026

Announcing KYATA T-shirt Design Contest 2026

Submit your designs for KYATA's official 2026 T-shirt!

Submissions will be voted on by the membership, and the winner will be featured on future merchandise. Show your passion for the healing power of art!

Deadline for submissions: April 01, 2026

Judging Period: May 01-May 29, 2026

Winner Announced: May 30, 2026 @ KYATA's Third Annual Symposium, Day 2

More submission details to follow

01/31/2026

Join us February 19 for a virtual Continuing Education session about the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC) framework. The session will be led by Megan VanMeter, MA, LPC, LMHC, LPC-AT/S, ATR-BC, and Lisa Hinz, PhD, ATR-BC, both former students of the ETC’s co-creators and art therapy pioneers, Vija Lusebrink and Sandra (Kagin) Graves-Alcorn. Without a formal training program for ETC, myths about the framework have flourished. This session will help attendees re-conceptualize the ETC, offering opportunities to expand beyond the oversimplified beliefs about the model.

Attend “live” or register to watch the recording at your own pace. welcome to join and participants may earn 2 CE credits. The session is discounted for AATA Members ($52) and FREE for AATA Student Members to attend.

Register at https://arttherapy.org/calendar-of-events/

Mark your calendars and save the date for our 3rd Annual Kentucky Art Therapy Association Symposium: Building Our Creati...
01/30/2026

Mark your calendars and save the date for our 3rd Annual Kentucky Art Therapy Association Symposium: Building Our Creative Community.

This year the symposium will take place on May 29th and May 30th, 2026. The symposium will be held at the Shelbyville Conference Center.

If you are interested in presenting, please head to our website to apply:
www.kyarttherapy.org/2026-symposium.html

We look forward to seeing you all! Further details to be announced.

We want to end our year by saying thank you to our amazing membership across Kentucky and to our current KYATA executive...
12/07/2025

We want to end our year by saying thank you to our amazing membership across Kentucky and to our current KYATA executive board members.

In the last two years the executive board has:
-Organized/planned two symposiums with approval of all CEs by the NBCC
-Hosted successful symposiums each year, with an increase in participants the second year
-Organized and hosted several successful art meet ups for membership
-Kept up with our marketing/social media posts and membership email list
-Spread out our meet ups across cities in Kentucky to include Louisville, Frankfort, and Lexington
-Welcomed new students to the UofL art therapy program each year
-Updated and organized much needed parts of all things KYATA (even became a little more tech savvy 🤪)

And how could we forget our most memorable part of 2025?
With the diligent support and help of those who are part of our amazing membership, we learned the AATA 2027 conference location has been secured for Louisville, Kentucky!!!

So, we want to give a great big thank you to our membership and to our executive board from the last few years before the year ends!
To:
Marybeth Orton, President (Newly elected member of the AATA board of directors)
Chelcia Nemec, President-Elect
McKenzie Rich, Secretary
Erica Adams, Treasurer
Amber Bruce, Delegate
Rhonda Fessel, Alternate Delegate
Katie Regan, Previous Alternate Delegate turned IT/Tech Support
+ All of our amazing members!

What a big last few years for the Kentucky Art Therapy Association!! We are thankful for each of you for all of your hard work, good attitudes, support of KYATA as well as one another, and your fantastic teamwork! Looking forward to welcoming our newly elected members to the executive board and so excited for what's to come in the new year. 💜
(Check out the last pic to see our honorary board member: a very cozy weighted highland cow)

Our Annual Membership Meeting was a hit! We watched a demo on how to properly puppeteer as a trio and learned about how ...
12/07/2025

Our Annual Membership Meeting was a hit! We watched a demo on how to properly puppeteer as a trio and learned about how this could be utilized as an intervention during a therapy session. Then we learned the step-by-step process of making our very own American Bunraku Puppet out of paper. We are so grateful to Sarah Hall and her husband, Pat, for leading us during our art making portion. There was so much laughter in the room and creativity. We also had delicious snacks to keep our creativity fueled.

Skylar Gilmore won our amazing end of year door prize, complete with several self-care items and a salt cave gift card. We introduced and gave out new KYATA swag!

We announced our election results during our meeting and shared other exciting updates for the new year.
Please help us to congratulate:
Katie Regan as President-Elect
Kristina Brooks as Secretary
Felice Salmon as Delegate
Chelcia Nemec as President

Join us December 6th, 2025, for our annual membership meeting where Sarah Hall, artist and puppeteer, will lead us in an...
11/12/2025

Join us December 6th, 2025, for our annual membership meeting where Sarah Hall, artist and puppeteer, will lead us in an American Bunraku Puppet Workshop! This meeting will be held at the St. Matthews-Eline Branch Library in Louisville, Kentucky, from 1:30pm to 4pm.

1:30pm to 3pm American Bunraku Puppet Workshop
3pm to 4pm Annual Membership Meeting

We are so excited to explore this art making, share the results of our newly elected board members, and start planning for 2026. All materials will be provided. We are looking forward to visiting with you!

Follow this link to RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/annual-membership-meeting-american-bunraku-puppet-workshop-tickets-1948277262739?aff=oddtdtcreator

Extended deadline for nominations!!! (10/01/2025)The KYATA board has three positions becoming available in 2026.. Secre...
09/08/2025

Extended deadline for nominations!!! (10/01/2025)

The KYATA board has three positions becoming available in 2026.. Secretary, Delegate & President Elect…

send your name/position of interest to:
kentuckyarttherapy@gmail.com

Click on this link to read more about the board and each position:

kyarttherapy.org/2025-elections.html

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our September KYATA art meet up and board meeting held for the second year in a r...
09/06/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our September KYATA art meet up and board meeting held for the second year in a row at UK Integrative Medicine and Health in Lexington, KY.

We had a wonderful time making packing tape scrolls with a fantastic prompt from our art leader who works at UK HealthCare.

We welcomed 15 art therapists into the space from Louisville, Lexington, and other areas. There were seasoned art therapists, new art therapists, and students all in attendance.

We also got to welcome Dr. Frances Griffith to our KYATA community, as she is an ATR-BC who has recently come to our state and is living/working in Lexington at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Griffith also won our door prize! The door prize was a lovely mini 3D printed KYATA painting palette and a $25 gift card to Lex Center for Creative ReUse.

It was a lovely day with great humans who got to collage a creation of their resiliency as art therapists. We look forward to seeing you at the AATA conference in October or at our December meeting for our all members meeting. 💙

(Scroll to the end to see the very festive and clearly UK HealthCare employed, Mr. Bones, greeting us all to the calming space)

Hello Everyone!This is your last reminder to get signed up! Registration for this meetup closes this Wednesday 9/3 at mi...
09/02/2025

Hello Everyone!

This is your last reminder to get signed up! Registration for this meetup closes this Wednesday 9/3 at midnight in order to prepare supplies.
Please join us for our next KYATA meet up, at UK HealthCare's Integrative Medicine & Health Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. We will be creating packing tape scrolls that portray our resilient journey as art therapists.
From 1pm to 2pm we will work together on our art pieces, then from 2pm to 3pm we will host our board meeting.
We look forward to seeing you! Come out and support the growth of art therapy in Lexington, KY!
Check out this video to get an idea of what this process will look like:
https://youtu.be/1873RO4D0SI?si=ncluYVGbz7XtBVQK
Follow this link to sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1557637237909?aff=oddtdtcreator

This is your weekly reminder to get signed up!Please join us for our next KYATA meet up, at UK HealthCare's Integrative ...
08/25/2025

This is your weekly reminder to get signed up!

Please join us for our next KYATA meet up, at UK HealthCare's Integrative Medicine & Health Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. We will be creating packing tape scrolls that portray our resilient journey as art therapists.

From 1pm to 2pm we will work together on our art pieces, then from 2pm to 3pm we will host our board meeting.

We look forward to seeing you! Come out and support the growth of art therapy in Lexington, KY!

Check out this video to get an idea of what this process will look like:
https://youtu.be/1873RO4D0SI?si=ncluYVGbz7XtBVQK

Follow this link to sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1557637237909?aff=oddtdtcreator

With 14 already signed up, you should grab a spot now!!Please join us for our next KYATA meet up, at UK HealthCare's Int...
08/19/2025

With 14 already signed up, you should grab a spot now!!

Please join us for our next KYATA meet up, at UK HealthCare's Integrative Medicine & Health Clinic in Lexington, Kentucky. We will be creating packing tape scrolls that portray our resilient journey as art therapists.

From 1pm to 2pm we will work together on our art pieces, then from 2pm to 3pm we will host our board meeting.

We look forward to seeing you! Come out and support the growth of art therapy in Lexington, KY!

Check out this video to get an idea of what this process will look like:
https://youtu.be/1873RO4D0SI?si=ncluYVGbz7XtBVQK

Follow this link to sign up:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-resilient-art-therapist-packing-tape-scrolls-tickets-1557637237909?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

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3940 Grandview Ave
Louisville, KY
40207

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