My passion is art.  It is a love affair that will continue for as long as I live.  Two of my most favorite things are playing with fire and getting dirty!

Since I was a small child, just old enough to hold a pencil, I wanted to be an artist. One of my earliest memories is of sitting in front of the large antique bookcase in my parent’s living room, drawing pictures of what I saw in the books and magazines.  I would play in the mud and sand and build forms and structures.  When I got older, much to my father’s dismay (since I was using a sharp knife), I would whittle sticks into little sculptures.  My world was my canvas.

All through elementary and high school I thrived on the art classes and would take as many as I could.  I explored drawing, painting and printmaking, sculpture and working with clay.  I loved it all.  Naturally, when I went to college, there was no doubt in my mind what to study.  The most difficult thing was to decide what medium to concentrate on for my major.  I started out with sculpture because I am a three-dimensional artist.  I think in 3-D.  I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of North Texas.  As an undergrad-student, you have to take a certain number of electives, so I took metalsmithing as one of my electives and Oh My!  I absolutely fell in love with the techniques and processes used when working with metal.  I received my Master of Fine Arts degree at Texas A&M – Commerce, with a concentration in sculptural metalsmithing.

After graduating with my MFA, I began teaching and discovered that teaching is another thing that I love doing, almost as much as making art.  I taught at several Universities and Colleges in Texas, including Texas Woman’s University, Collin County Community College, Richland College, and Paris Junior College.  I have taught Sculpture, Metals, 2-D Design, 3-D Design, Ceramics, Art Appreciation and Humanities.  In 2005 I moved to Michigan and began teaching at several area Art Centers, including the Ann Arbor Art Center, the Chelsea Center for the Arts, the 212 Art Center in Saline, and the Clinton Art Center.