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My passion is art. It is a love affair that will continue for as long as I live. Two of my most favorite things are playing with fire and getting dirty!

Since I was a small child, just old enough to hold a pencil, I wanted to be an artist. I loved to draw and would sit for hours in front of the large antique bookcase in my parents living room, drawing pictures of what I saw in the books and magazines. And, much to my father's dismay (since I was using a sharp knife), I would whittle sticks into little sculptures. I would play in the mud and sand and build forms and structures. My world was my canvas.

All through elementary and high school I thrived on the art classes and would take as many as I could. I explored drawing, painting and printmaking, sculpture and working with clay. I loved it all. Naturally, when I went to college, there was no doubt in my mind what to study. The most difficult thing was to decide what medium to concentrate on for my major. I started out with sculpture because I am definitely a three-dimensional artist. I think in 3-D. I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Sculpture from the University of North Texas. As an undergrad-student, you have to take a certain number of electives, so I took metalsmithing as one of my electives and Oh My! I absolutely fell in love with the techniques and processes used when working with metal and I have been working with metal ever since. I received my Master of Fine Arts degree at Texas A&M - Commerce, with a concentration in sculptural metalsmithing.

After graduating with my MFA, I began teaching and discovered that teaching is another thing that I love doing, almost as much as making art. I taught at several Universities and Colleges in Texas, including Texas Woman's University, Collin County Community College, Richland College, and Paris Junior College. I have taught Sculpture, Metals, 2-D Design, 3-D Design, Ceramics, Art Appreciation and Humanities. In 2005 I moved to Michigan and began teaching Jewelry and Metalsmithing at the Ann Arbor Art Center, and I now also teach Metals and Ceramics at the Chelsea Center for the Arts.