I started painting silk in 1986 when I met a woman who was teaching a silk painting workshop at the University of Oregon Craft Center. I took that class and have been painting-silk ever since. Since that time, that woman moved away from Eugene and silk painting workshops ended at the University of Oregon Craft Center.

Shortly after that silk-painting workshop, I moved to New York. I continued painting silk, doing trade and craft shows and selling my art. After a while, I started working for a PR company. The owner and president of the company thought I should be taking classes at FIT (Fashion Institute for Technology) and introduced me to the Dean of Surface Design. After that interview, I started taking classes in surface design. I attended FIT for more than two years. Due to a family crisis, my academic career at FIT was cut short and I moved back to Oregon. After a short while, I started taking classes at Lane Community College where I began pursuing my life-long dream of getting a degree in art.

After graduating from Lane Community College in 2003 with a degree in Graphic Design, I realized I really wanted a bachelor’s degree in art, so I moved to Portland to attend Marylhurst University. I graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor’s of Art in Art. Wahoo!

Since that time I have been painting silk, and am now teaching that silk-painting workshop at the University of Oregon Craft Center.