Instructor and Open Studio Faculty Supervisor
BA (pronounced Bee-ay) Short, MA, LCAT, ATR-BC, ATCS, grew up around the Great Lakes region, living in both Michigan and Ontario throughout their youth. BA graduated from Marylhurst University in 1999 and is a licensed certified art therapist in Oregon, as well as a nationally board-certified art therapist and credentialed supervisor with the Art Therapy Credentials Board. In addition to over 20 years of experience working with youth within the juvenile legal and foster care systems, BA owned and operated a private art therapy open studio for 14 years. Additionally, they have supervised the open studio at Lewis & Clark Graduate School since its inception in 2020.
Deeply committed to community and advocacy, BA has a long history of working with LGBTQIA+ individuals and maintains a strong dedication to Disability Justice. They also co-founded Crow & Moon Productions, a social justice-driven production company that provides opportunities for storytellers to amplify their unique narratives and experiences. As a practicing fine artist, BA has exhibited their work both internationally and in various publications. Today, they maintain a robust private practice, working virtually with art therapy participants and providing clinical supervision to professionals pursuing their art therapy credentials.
Personal statement:
As a mixed-race, genderqueer, and nonbinary individual, my social locations are not just footnotes in my history; they are active participants in everything I do. Whether operating as a clinician, supervisor, educator, artist, or documentarian, I work from a place of deep affirmation. I honor the complex social locations of those I serve while remaining vigilantly committed to identifying and counteracting my own privileges as they arise.
I believe true healing and growth occur when we acknowledge our intersections. However, progress demands more than personal reflection—it requires the creative dismantling of systemic power structures. Anchored in a postmodernist framework, my theoretical lens draws from intersectionality, social constructionism, feminism, queer theory, and antiracism. I view human beings as ever-evolving, and I believe the therapeutic relationship thrives on empathy, language, storytelling, and art. Guided by these values, I am dedicated to questioning historical frameworks that exploit and disadvantage individuals, seeking instead to replace them with tangible opportunities for equity.
When I am not working, I can usually be found making art, riding my bike, traveling, cooking, gardening, or relaxing in the backyard with family and friends.
Publications:
- 2026 Chapter 10. Fostering Belonging: Art Therapy with Queer Individuals with Disabilities. Queer Worldmaking in Art TherapyTheory and Praxis. Edited By Zachary D. Van Den Berg
- 2025 Director & Editor, Documentary film. We are the Most Beautiful People: Adults with Disabilities
- 2021 Tales From the Pandemic: Volume 3 Cover image (Touch), poem, and two art pieces (Emerge and Navigating the Future)
- 2021 Healing from Clinical Trauma Using Creative Mindfulness Techniques
- 2021 Creative Wellness Treatment Deck
- 2018 AH:LE The Gender Summit
- 2016 Creative Wellness: Art Journaling with Mindfulness
- 2008 Voice Catcher 3: Internal artwork throughout publication.