Art can be a healing
medium for the artist and audience as Marietta Dantonio-Fryer demonstrates
by using her craft to help a variety of disadvantaged people.
Marietta (Brazell) now Dantonio-Fryer graduated from Kutztown University in
1975 with a degree in Art Education. Today Marietta is a tenured Assistant
Professor of Art at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania holding the title of
the Lindback Distinguished Educator 2005-2006.She attributes much of her success
as an educator and artist to her undergraduate education at Kutztown. Role
model professors inspired her to follow her dream to help others express themselves
through the arts.
Marietta’s international exhibitions include shows in Ireland, Russia,
India, China, Germany, Spain, Egypt, South Africa, Thomas Tabor Museum, Pa,
American Indian Gallery, DE, Museum of the Americas, Florida, Solo Show at
the United Nations, New York, Hofstra Museum, Academy of Natural Science, Philadelphia,
Pa, US Capitol, DC, and an upcoming invitational solo exhibit in Cairo, Egypt.
Her work was recently aired on the TV show “White House Chronicles,” which
mentioned her as one the nation’s leading experts in Healing Arts.
Marietta works with our US Army (Space and Missile Defense Command) helping
soldiers and families respond to the events of trauma, notably 9-11 producing
Operation Healings Arts as a tool for self- expression to heal after trauma.
The end product is a mural that hangs in the Pentagon, in Washington, DC. Two
concurrent art projects on Healing Arts are on display at a museum in Nashville,
Tennessee. She is the outreach coordinator for Survivors Art Foundation, International,
and the founder of Totem Rhythms, Inc., a global organization promoting healing
for Indigenous Peoples. She has developed Healing Art programs for at Risk
Youth, incarcerated adults with HIV and AIDS, those with special needs, survivors
of rape and abuse, war refugees, deaf and blind individuals and the elderly,
Native Americans, and the United Nations.
Marietta considers art
as a universal language that transcends fear, communication, and love to
reach all cultures to embrace the limitless possibilities that art offers.
In the Lenape language we say “Wanishi!” (deepest gratitude),
which is extended to those at Kutztown University who inspired her to see with
an eagle eye and to search for truth.
