ABOUT SUSAN M. ROSTAN
Susan M. Rostan has been an artist most of her life. Her
passion for painting began in her grandmother's atelier when she was six.
Rostan's curiosity about artistic development and creative thinking emerged
from her studio experiences and education. After earning a BA in psychology at
SUNY Stony Brook, she formalized her understanding of visual arts with an MFA
from Long Island University, where she studied with the acclaimed abstract
painter Stan Brodsky. Brodsky played a significant role in Rostan's development
of her artistic vision, never diminishing the value of her efforts because she
was a woman and a mother of three. He responded to her determination to become
a better artist.
Rostan's curiosity about artistic
development and creative thinking emerging from her studies and studio practice
made continuing her education enticing. She earned a doctorate in education
from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studied gifted education
with Abraham Tannenbaum and James Borland. Her published research began with a study
of creativity in artists and scientists, and then she turned to studies of children's
artistic talent development and creativity. Collaborating with the creativity
scholar Howard E. Gruber, she focused on case studies of creative individuals'
evolving knowledge, motivation, and purposeful work. While running her art
school, painting and exhibiting, and doing research, she was an adjunct
professor at Hofstra University's School of Education. Her interwoven
experiences have given her a unique point of view for witnessing, exploring,
documenting, and writing insightfully about the real-world concerns and needs
of individuals engaged in artistic development.
Rostan has published well-cited articles in The
Journal of Creative Behavior and Creativity Research Journal and
chapters in several books. When her enjoyment of research merged with an
interest in genealogy and unknown family trauma, she authored Digging:
Lifting the Memorable from Within the Unthinkable, published in 2013 with
services provided by Rosalie Ink Publications. The memoir won the Grand Prize
for nonfiction in the 2014 LuckyCinda Book Contest and the Silver Prize for
memoirs in the 2014 Global Ebook Awards. A signature National Association of
Women Artists member, Rostan is a contributing writer for their magazine NAWA
NOW and author of the blog NAWA Luminaries.
