Recap: Summer 2014 Special Topics & Art Therapy Issues with Dr. Janice Hoshino

This past weekend, the Department of Art Education’s Art Therapy Program held the first of three summer weekend courses. The first weekend course focused on a multicultural approach to family art therapy. The course was taught by visiting professor Dr. Janice Hoshino who is the Chair of Art and Expressive Therapies at Antioch University Seattle. Dr. Hoshino is a registered and board-certified art therapist as well as a licensed marriage and family therapist.

Currently, Dr. Hoshino serves as a board member on the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB). Her research interests include multicultural issues with couples and families, art therapy with
marginalized populations (such as interned Japanese-Americans from World War II), couples
issues and art therapy. In addition to her book Family Art Therapy: Foundations of Theory and
Practice, her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals.

The course took place on Friday, June 13th and Saturday, June 14th from 8:30 AM to
5:00 PM. Roughly 30 students were in attendance for Dr. Hoshino’s class. The class presented
an overview of family therapy theory and concepts, and family art therapy constructs, practice,
and assessments. Rather than presenting a lecture, Dr. Hoshino sought to encourage an open
atmosphere for sharing and discussion. On Friday, Dr. Hoshino focused on laying the foundation
of multiculturalism as it applies to family therapy. At the end of the day, Dr. Hoshino asked the
student to create a family genogram which created an excellent transition to Saturday’s emphasis
on Family Art Therapy.

Through in depth discussion and hands on art experiential, students were able to gain a
heightened awareness of how to work with families with a variety of cultural contexts in art
therapy treatment and research. In order to enhance their level of understanding, Dr. Hoshino
challenged students to comprehensively evaluate their own ethnic upbringing and belief systems
as related to their family of origin as well as a broad range of other cultures. Overall, it was an
engaging class that presented a lot of great information. We’re so thankful to Dr. Hoshino for
traveling all the way to Tallahassee from Seattle, Washington in order to teach this class!

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