Biography
Susan M Rostan
Susan M. Rostan has been an artist for most of her life. Her passion for painting began in her grandmother's atelier at age 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 artistic development, 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, shaped by 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, then shifted to 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 conducting research, she served as 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, as well as 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 and its historian, Rostan is a contributing writer for their magazine, NAWA NOW; author of the blog NAWA Luminaries; and a contributing writer for Sanctuary magazine.
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 conducting research, she served as 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, as well as 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 and its historian, Rostan is a contributing writer for their magazine, NAWA NOW; author of the blog NAWA Luminaries; and a contributing writer for Sanctuary magazine.