Summer School 2015

For 25 years the Cork Art Therapy Summer School has welcomed up to sixty participants annually, providing them with a unique opportunity to learn about and experience the Art Therapy process.


Participants are offered the chance to explore the therapeutic potential of art through themed experiential workshops.  A series of related lectures during the week provide a context for the current practice of Art Therapy.

This year we are offering an even greater variety of Art Therapy experiences to the public.  Whilst all the workshops will have a strong emphasis on the creative process, participants can choose both from the range of themes on offer, and from a facilitated or co-facilitated experience.  One of these co-facilitated workshops is geared specifically towards training and practicing therapists, offering a space to consider how one's practice can be adapted to different situations.

This year Marianne Adams has been invited to commence the experience by giving the 'Introduction to Art Therapy' lecture.

Marianne Adams

Marianne Adams has an MA in Psychoanalytic Studies. Initially she worked for Childline as a Telephone Counsellor for 2 years. In a subsequent position as Head of Therapeutic Care over a community of residential children’s’ homes she encountered the work of an Art Therapist. She was captivated, enrolled in an Art Therapy Summer School and later undertook Art Therapy Training.

After qualifying as an Art Therapist she worked for 8 years in a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic in the UK. Since moving to Ireland 9 years ago, Marianne has had a family, started a private practice, supervised, and lectured on the MA in Art Therapy. Local CAMHS, Child and Family Psychology Dept, Social Services Dept, GPs and the Adult Psychiatric Service commission.

Marianne Adams will be representing Ireland with her chapter ‘The Keeper of the Hearth’, in a book published by Routledge in January 2015. ‘Multicultural Family Art Therapy’ is a collection of international papers edited by Dr Christine Kerr, Director of Art Therapy, New York University.

You can find out more about her on www.arttherapywestcork.com