Gretchen (Geri) Hurlbut

Professor Hurlbut retired in 2018.

Geri Hurlbut is a Board Certified Art Therapist and the Coordinator of the undergraduate Art Therapy program. She was the recipient of the CATO Award for Faculty Excellence at Converse College in 2015. Her teaching style includes lecture and interactive discussion laced with art experiences that help the students integrate theoretical concepts with hands-on art expression. Geri has previously taught at the University of California San Diego-Extension Art Therapy program and supervised graduates interning in a variety of settings. Clinically, she has worked with individuals who struggle with addictions, eating disorders, trauma, mood disorders and psychiatric illnesses, both in psychiatric settings and in private practice.

She continues to develop her skills by attending conferences and workshops, and maintains national and regional affiliations with the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), the South Carolina Association of Art Therapists (SCAAT), and international organizations including the European Consortium for Arts Therapies in Education (ECArTE), the International Society for the Psychopathology of Expression (SIPE), and the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association (IEATA). In recent years Geri has incorporated multicultural components and service learning into the art therapy curriculum. Opportunities for travel have included collaborations with other disciplines, such as foreign languages to France and Tunisia and Music Therapy to Haiti.

Geri continues her personal artistic development through continued workshops in watercolors and mixed media. She also enjoys silk painting, life drawing, and acrylics. She has shown in annual Faculty Exhibitions at the Milliken Art Gallery, the Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg Day School, Upstairs Artspace and the Main Street Artists Cooperative, and was one of 100 Spartanburg artists featured in Artists Among Us published in 2011.