I have a BA in Fine Arts from St. Lawrence University in Canton New York.  However, my real education in the arts began long before that, it began when I was a child wandering the woods and beaches of northern MI during carefree summer days.  I was blessed with endless summer days which allowed for what so many children of today miss out on, and that is simply unplanned, unscheduled days, days minus the parade of orchestrated activities. I, instead was challenged to create and invent my own forms of entertainment and activity by exploring and reveling in the natural wonders that surrounded me.  Using found objects to build countless forts in the woods, drawing endless designs in the sand along the waters edge, erecting sand castles and beach stone towers, making sailboats out of milkweed pods with leaves for sails, nature was my boundless and bountiful playground.  But probably most importantly, it was the influence of my mother who intuitively knew the importance of, and provided me with, the gift of time,  the gift of unscheduled time that allowed for and supported the importance of daydreaming.  To lay quietly inside or outside with the only goal of listening to the wind as it danced with the leaves high up in the trees or to sprawl out over the seats of an old rowboat in the middle of the lake and simply watch as clouds meandered across the sky.  My art education was born during those days and now as an adult, it is that same ability to see beauty and delight in the simplest of things, the ability to stop, freeze frame the present moment I am experiencing during the course of a day, that I tap into as a working artist and teacher.

For over thirty years I have produced award winning batiks and sold them through galleries and art shows throughout the Midwest.  Those years, working in my studio, teaching myself the complicated process of batik, also provided yet another important training ground in my artistic and creative development.  About 15 years ago I discovered the most exciting aspect of my life's work, and that is guiding others to discover the artist that lies within them.  I have taught numerous classes and led multiple creativity workshops, all focused on helping others to discover the artist that I believe lies in each and every one of us.  Most of my students come to me convinced they can never learn to draw or that they don't have a creative bone in their body. To my great delight, and the student's amazement, they learn they are wrong, they really can learn to see as an artist sees and many go on to tap into their newly discovered creative self in a variety of different ways.  All of them report that they now see the world differently, their perspective has been altered, the world is more colorful, more interesting, and horizons have been expanded.  The very best part of this journey is that these newy learned skills in the arts are transferable to other aspects of their lives.  They now have another set of tools to help them cope with some of life's adversities.  Passing on the gifts I was given as a child to others, has been my life's greatest joy.   The purpose of this blog is to provide a window for others to learn to see as the artist sees and to reap the rewards of this view. Thanks mom, for giving me so very much!