Biography
I have always imagined that I was born with a brush in one hand and colored pencil in the other. I have always been an artist. I am an artist. I will always be an artist. I love to explore materials and see what happens when one mixes them together. My parents realized very early my artistic potential and have done their best to encourage me.
I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When I was about eight we moved to Grand Forks, North Dakota. Six years later my family moved to Oak Park, Illinois where I graduated from high school. I enrolled in the Atlanta College of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree I moved to Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I worked for a few years as a graphic designer at a small advertising company in Knoxville. A few years latter I decided to move with my family to Duluth, Minnesota. While in Duluth I enrolled at the University of Minnesota Duluth to work on my Master of Fine Arts degree (with a focus on Graphic Design). While taking classes, I discovered that my passions were more in-line with printmaking, drawing, and mixed media, so I took time off from school. A few years later I enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Superior. Where I studied printmaking, drawing, and painting. After graduating with my Master of Arts degree I enrolled at the University of North Dakota Grand Forks and completed my Master of Fine Arts degree in Mixed Media. Since then I have worked as an artist, lecturer, art instructor, preparator, and manager of UND Art Collections. I have taught at the University of North Dakota where the majority of my responsibilities as UND Art Collection Manager focused on the art collection. My team and I maintained and prepared artwork in UND’s collection for display in the many exhibition locations. The collection has work that dates from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome as well as contemporary works by Audrey Flack, Jasper Johns, and Louise Nevelson. Sadly due to extreme buget cuts my postion was eliminated. Now I find myself on the threshhold of new adventures. I believe that our experiences make up only a small part of who we are. I think that there is so much more to us, that if we are able to see the totality of who we are the possibilities will be unfathomable. |