Once a month, local artists donate a Thursday morning to speak with students and faculty members about the challenges artists have faced and how they have succeeded in their craft as part of the Careers in Visual Arts lecture series.

This is the fourth consecutive semester the Palmer Art Museum and the College of Arts and Architecture have presented the lecture series.

Local portrait photographer Dan Brody will speak March 22. Brody, a 1972 University graduate in film and television, is a member of the Professional Photographers of America. He said he enjoys giving speeches and hopes to motivate students in portrait photography.

Brody said he believes a potential photographer should have a good rapport with people, and the ability to judge light and a sense of composition. Brody said that success in portrait photography depends on "seeing people through their own eyes to visualize how they want to be seen."

The lecture program was started to give students the sense of what the job market in the arts is like, said Charles Garoian, assistant director of the Palmer Museum of Art. It gives students a chance to ask questions and find out about job security, Garoian said.

Lisa Horlein, a registered art therapist at the Meadows Psychiatric Center in Centre Hall, spoke several weeks ago of her experiences as an art therapist. Horlein, who works with adolescents and adults, has her clients use a creative process to express inner feelings. She concentrates on these efforts rather than a finished product.

She may ask her clients to talk about their pieces. "It's basically therapy with an added activity," she explained in a written statement.

Art therapy emerged as a profession in the 1930s, with trained therapists employed in a variety of settings ranging from psychiatric centers to general hospitals or schools.

A trained artist, Horlein said she was drawn to the field because it combined her interest in art with her desire to work in a caretaking profession. Horlein received a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in art therapy from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

The first speaker of the year, Richard Mayhew, a member of the University artist-in-residence program, spoke about preparing a portfolio, getting grants and developing a professional network. Mayhew's works are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian and the Palmer-Museum of Art.

Landscape architect Robert Preston will speak April 22.

The series was arranged by the Palmer Museum in conjunction with the College of Arts and Architecture. Videotapes of Mayhiew and Horlein's speeches can be obtained from Judy Aronson in Rm. 116 of the Arts Building.

All talks will start at 10 a.m. in the Palmer Museum of Art.