Biography

I received my B.A. in History from Grand Valley State University in western Michigan and attended graduate school at The University of Iowa, receiving M.A. and M.F.A. degrees in Printmaking.  My focus as a printmaker has been etchings & woodcuts, often merging printing with painting and drawing.  My career as an artist has also featured teaching, an occupation I love and one that informs and reinforces my artwork.  From my undergraduate days I always envisioned myself pursuing teaching as a career.

I have lived in Chicago since 1999 and have taught at Harrington College of Design since the fall of 2000.  Before coming to Chicago I taught at the University of Iowa, Grand Valley State University and with the University of Michigan�s New England Literature Program as a visiting artist.  I have also taught oil painting at The Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. 

I have been teaching etching and relief classes at the Chicago Printmakers Collaborative since early 2003 and have been a member there since 2000.  When I need to print, I print at the CPC, an organization that has become my home in the Chicago art scene and has brought many exhibition opportunities.  I keep a private studio where much of my work takes place.

At Harrington I am full-time faculty, having retired from the administrative position of Studio Master for Foundations.  Foundations courses are what I teach at Harrington, now including architectural illustration, and ongoing curriculum development keeps me intellectually engaged there.  It has been interesting to see how returning to design fundamentals through teaching has influenced my work � subtle in many ways and overt in some others, a welcome addition to how I approach my work in general.  As a printmaker I have always had to negotiate a course between technical precision and intuitive decisions and the renewed focus on fundamentals that comes from my teaching adds another layer of development.