Cathy Weisman Topal

Cathy Weisman Topal is a research associate at Smith College, and a longtime studio art educator at the preschool, elementary, middle school, and college levels. For over thirty years, she taught visual arts education in the Department of Education and Child Studies at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and was the studio art teacher at the Center for Early Childhood Education and the Campus School of Smith College. Cathy is the author of several books and visual arts curricula, including Children, Clay, and Sculpture; Children and Painting; Beautiful Stuff: Learning with Found Materials; Beautiful Stuff from Nature: More Learning with Found Materials; Thinking with a Line; Explorations in Art: Kindergarten; first and second editions and Creative Minds Out of School. Cathy recently created an interactive website: www.thinkingwithaline.com. She is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator in the U.S. and abroad.