I was born in New York, was the “art room brat” in high school and managed to complete college in only 3 years, attending 4 different schools. I have both a B.A. in Psychology and a BFA in Painting. I’ve also studied at the New School for Social Research, UCLA, ASU and many other workshops. I started graduate school, but after changing my area of concentration too many times, I decided to stop.

Looking for a creative outlet, I began designing and hand-painting needlepoint canvasses. My unusual designs [faces!] were a hit with retailers coast to coast. I also spent a year as an apprentice hand-bag designer, working for a national catalog. Always the entrepreneur, I also designed and sold jewelry, T-shirts and was always painting portraits “on the side.”

On my own, I studied different art disciplines – mosaics in Turkey, glass in Venice, and applied this knowledge and experience into my current work. Travel is a huge part of my life; I’ve been to Europe many times, lived in the Middle East and have visited Africa, Hawaii, Alaska, the Caribbean, Mexico… and much of the United States. I am very much influenced by what I have seen during my travels.

I worked in retail for many years, and enjoyed a career as an award-winning visual designer [display]. I was the creative force behind On Display Inc., a groundbreaking retail display design & production company based in Tempe. With a clientele as diverse as Wells Fargo, Westcor Shopping Centers, Knopf Publishing and countless retail boutiques, I gained national attention and recognition designing stores, fixtures, props and stage sets. One of the store concepts I designed for Levi Strauss & Co. appeared on the cover of Visual Merchandising and Store Design Magazine.