I grew up surrounded by art and creativity. My mother, an artist herself, still tells a story about something I created when I was around five years old. I had taken pieces of masking tape and looped them into abstract shapes along the side of our family's trailer. Then I pulled up grass and stuck it to the tape until the side of the trailer was covered in the unusual installation. My mother still recalls being stunned by both its beauty and its audacity.

Art has remained a constant in my life, taking different forms and serving different purposes along the way. Over the years, I've moved between traditional and digital mediums, developing a particular appreciation for the creative process itself. As I've grown older, making art has become increasingly essential, something I return to for both for the creative process itself and the sense of balance it brings to my life.

That relationship with art has also shaped my education and professional career. After years of traveling and making art along the way, I settled in San Francisco for nearly 30 years before eventually returning to my roots in South Dakota. My time in San Francisco included earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts in Web Design and New Media from the Academy of Art University, as well as serving as Senior Manager of Brand Design at San Francisco Ballet and Creative Services Director at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.