I am an artist, designer and educator. I worked as a full-time designer for seven years before getting my MFA in Interactive Design from the University of Kansas. Since then I have been teaching for over twenty-three years! Teaching is my passion and I love spending my days with students.
I have a wonderful family and a daughter whom I am grateful for! I am passionate about life! My life is full of color: family, friends, art, design, travel and learning. I live life to the fullest aiming to enjoy each and every day. I believe that learning is a lifelong process and this is something I instill in my students. Continuing to learn from life, travel, my students and continual study independently and through my graduate degrees helps me to quench my desire to expand my knowledge. Everyone in my family has adventurous and artistic souls. I grew up in Champaign, Illinois, U.S.A. My father was a Professor in Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois and mother was a preschool teacher. I attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence for an undergraduate degree in Visual Communications and a Masters in Fine Arts in Interactive Design. We lived in Rheinfelden, Switzerland when I was ten years old while my dad was on sabbatical. After graduate school I moved to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It was amazing to live in Mexico for three years where I taught seven subjects at a bilingual school. I love traveling which allows me to immerse myself into other cultures. I have traveled to thirty countries on four continents and it is my dream to travel to as many countries as I can. My travels along with the study of culture and history influence me and my art and design work. I made and exhibited a series of paintings in which I featured universal and local symbols, which were important to me. I am fascinated with all aspects of design and new media. My work includes a variety of mediums including: graphic design, website design, furniture and lighting design, animation, video, photography, painting and mixed media. I have over twenty-seven years of marketing, promotion and design experience. My students inspire me. Their energy and enthusiasm for learning makes my role as a teacher more extraordinary than I could have ever imagined. I love teaching and being a part of a school. I have been teaching for over eighteen years. Working with students at the University of Kansas in the Student Union Activities office inspired me to get my MFA and become a professor. I taught graphic, digital and multi-media design at the University level for three and a half years before moving to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico where I taught art, computer design, graphic design, art history, world history, social studies and sociology to middle school and high school students. I finished my EdM degree and Teaching Certificate from the University of Illinois in May of 2020. For thirteen years I had the pleasure of being the Visual Art teacher to kindergarten through eighth grade students at Countryside School in Champaign, Illinois. Countryside School is a private, Independent School. We have a racially diverse group of students whose parents are part of our university community. Our school motto is “Joy in Learning, Excellence in Education” and I aim to impart this into my classroom. I had the opportunity to teach in South Korea in 2020 - 2021 at the Busan International Foreign School. I was the Maker Space teacher to students in kindergarten to twelfth grades. I helped expand the program to elementary school where Maker Space had not previously been offered. It was an amazing adventure to live in Korea and to experience teaching students from diverse backgrounds including children of international expatriates and U.S. military personnel. BFS is a college prep school that uses U.S. Common Core curriculum and the AP program in high school. I currently teach art full time at Holy Cross School and design part time at Academy High School in Champaign, Illinois. Having exhibited my art and design work for numerous years I encourage my students to exhibit their work and enter it in local and national competitions. I am proud to say that they have won dozens of awards and recognitions for their work. Teaching students fills me with joy and I hope that my joy infuses into the hearts and minds of each of my students. 
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