Backstory

I am a professional art educator and artist living and working in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
My goal as an art teacher is to encourage people to embrace their individual creative spirit through self-expression.

I earned my B.A. in Art Education at UW Madison in 1987. As an undergrad, I was awarded a scholarship as the Outstanding Student in Art Education, and I created and exhibited works ranging from photographs and paintings to ceramics and sculpture. I also won “Best of Show” with an eight-foot tall welded rebar sculpture of a woman entitled: “She, Big and Beautiful.”

After graduating, I began my art teaching career in Central Wisconsin and continued in Illinois before returning to my hometown of Waukesha, then spending a seven-year hiatus at home with three small children. I returned to teaching in 2001 and spent the next 20 years teaching in Waukesha, where I was a founding member of a Fine Arts team that received an Exemplary Award for Innovative Programming from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee in 2011. In 2014, I was one of 100 teachers in Wisconsin to be awarded the Herb Kohl Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching.

Today, in addition to making my own art, I am deeply passionate about my work with Donna Lexa Art Center in Waukesha, facilitating art-studio experiences for adults with disabilities and elder groups.

I create mixed-media mosaics and sculptures using small toys, game pieces, bits of old jewelry, and colorful beads from my vast collection—to form works that, when viewed from a distance, portray an image but up-close present details that are surprising and delightful to behold. I also use upcycled items—such as potato chip bags, which I transform into the dresses of my “Chip-bag Girls.”

Works

All images shown here are subject to copyright by the artist.