Art is a second career for me. My professional life began as a teacher of deaf children, followed by a Media Center position where I developed educational materials and provided teachers with classroom technology training. Along the way, I became involved in research about human learning and the use of sign language, leading to a PhD, university teaching, and a unique experience with signing chimpanzees. Eventually, I settled into a professorship in Education and ended my academic career with positions in university administration.

Always a drawer, as a teen, I set up a home studio and experimented with watercolor and acrylic painting. Given subsequent educational and career endeavors, later family obligations, time for my art had always been a luxury -- usually reserved for summers when I could choose more time at home. But I never lost the desire to create....

Once retired, my energies have been joyfully devoted to art; indeed, it has become a full time obsession. Enrolling in a BFA program, I returned to classes (again as a student). Afterward, I gained additional skill and experience during five years of work in a rented downtown Toledo, Ohio studio. Blessed to interact with, learn from, and be inspired by wonderfully talented and generous instructors, students and fellow artists, I have participated in international, national and regional exhibitions and has been awarded various recognitions. My work has also been published in curated print collections as well as exhibition catalogs and venue promotions.