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I graduated from Albertus Magnus College in 1979 with a BA in Psychology, minoring in Art and concentrating in Art Therapy. I earned my MA in 1981 from Lesley University in Cambridge, MA in Art Psychotherapy. I cooked my way through graduate school, so when I returned to Torrington after graduation, I became a caterer and restauranteur until '96, working for some very interesting clients. A small, memorable dinner party I catered included Arthur Miller, T.H. White, and Abraham Ribicoff. In 1999 I began working with troubled youth teaching 'therapeutic art' to them. In 2004, I attended Harvard's Project Zero Summer Institute, learning about curriculum design through the arts and Multiple Intelligences. This should be the wave of the future of understanding learning through creativity! In 2005 I began consulting as an Art Therapist at the Wellspring Foundation and in July of 2009 I came on board full time. I treat children, adolescents, and adults in our residential facility, and I teach art in our elementary and high school to our resident and day students.
I am finally emerging as an artist and beginning to show my traditional impressionistic landscapes and architectural portraits, along with my new contemporary explorations. I was a founding member of Litchfield Visual Arts and served on the board for three years. I have been a member of the Litchfield Athletic Hall of Fame Committee since 2002.
I married fellow '75 graduate Donald Murelli in 1981, and we have two amazing children. Jonathan is a graduate of Drew University and has a BA in the Economics of Money, Banking, and Finance, with a minor in Spanish. He played baseball for Drew and graduated in '07. He presently lives in New Jersey where he is training to become a financial advisor with Axa Equitable. Meredith graduated from Smith College, also earning a degree in Economics. She played basketball for Smith, captaining the team her junior and senior years, and she graduated this past May '09. Meredith lives in Brookline, just outside of Boston, and works for the Dossia Consortium, a non-profit health care information platform.
Donald and I have lived in Litchfield since 1993. We are lucky and grateful for our happy state.
