My artistic career started in the 7th grade. I was a lost 7th grader. Not a fabulous student, not super-athletic, attention issues, a definite behavior problem (at least for my parents). Then I started to paint. I was taken under the wing of a loving woman- she let me make a studio space in one of her art closets. I spent all of my free time in the art room. All of my babysitting money soon became devoted to books on painting techniques and orders to various art supply catalogs. I can remember staying up late at night flipping through catalogs folding pages down of all of the things I "had to have". I was obsessed. I taught myself how to paint in watercolor. I spent hours in my room painting. My walls were covered with art work. My parents for sure thought it was "a faze", but they supported me anyway. My life was forever changed.
I did various independent studies in high school and was a commissioned by a couple of teachers to paint pictures for them. I went on to major in art education in at Umass Amherst as an undergraduate- thinking is was a more practical major than studio art. I continued to paint in my spare time. I went on to teaching art in an inner city elementary school- satisfying my other need of working with at risk children. I still felt like something was missing and decided to return to school at Springfield College to pursue a masters degree in clinical art therapy- hoping to reach people on a more therapeutic level through the medium of art. In the middle of the program my husband and I welcomed our first child into the world. Our son came along 11/2 years later.
I am currently working both as a teacher and as an expressive therapist. Being a working mother is challenging, but my favorite role in life thus far- and I manage to find time (although not as much as I'd like) to paint. I am presently working on several mural projects, as well as spending time in my studio working on my current series of mixed media canvas paintings.
