BioAs a Kindergartener and first grader in Virginia, my family owned a 150 year old house in the Blue Ridge Mountains where we frequently vacationed. The times that I spent there nurtured a love for the mountains and an interest in old houses. The primitive amenities added to the impressionable experience I had as a six year old. Eventually we had to sell the house and we moved from Virginia to Cincinnati. That house in Virginia was why I have always been interested in abandoned houses, and it has made appearances in my artwork throughout my art career as a youth and adult. I attended Bowling Green State University for my Bachelor of Fine Art, Teacher Prep. My first year of teaching art was at Fayetteville Middle School in Clermont County and my second teaching position was from 1999-2000 at St. Margaret of York School in Loveland, Ohio. In 2000 I began teaching at Lebanon City Schools where I currently hold a teaching position at Berry Intermediate. I see upwards of 900 fifth and sixth graders in my classroom each week. In addition to my art classes at school, I teach private art lessons and I lead an arts and crafts hour for the children at the apartment complex where I live. I received my Master of Art in Art Education in 2003 from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. I strongly believe my continued personal art practice is mandatory to the success of my teaching. Exhibitions and Art Experience MAAE Exhibition, 2001, 2002 Art Academy of Cincinnati MAAE Thesis Exhibition 2003 Art Academy of Cincinnati Streetscapes 2007-2011 Clifton, Ohio 2010 Streetscapes Artist Exhibition Sitwell’s Coffee House 2011, MAAE Alumni Exhibition Art Academy of Cincinnati 2012, Teacher as Artist College of Mount St. Joseph |