I grew up feeling confident that one day I would manifest the superpower of drawing. I had an enthusiastic artist as a father, but it wasn’t until high school that I officially fell in love art. My high school art teacher taught me to draw with the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and it was like someone had turned on a light in my world. I was able to see shapes and colors that made up the world around me as if for the first time. I spent hours drawing and shading and built up a portfolio rather quickly. 

It was a last minute decision to begin my undergraduate degree in studio art at Sam Houston State University but I soon switched to the University of Houston and completed a degree in Art History instead. After graduating, I worked for a few years in arts administration before moving to Austin to get my masters in Arts Education. I was actually just moving to Austin for my boyfriend (now husband) when I realized that I needed to study arts education and become an art teacher. If felt like the pivotal moment in a romcom where the protagonist realizes they’ve been in love with their best friend all along. Of COURSE I need to be an art teacher, I LOVE making art so much. While there, I wrote my thesis on how to use art criticism techniques to teach school aged children how to discuss contemporary art.

I worked as a contract art teacher for two companies between 2012 and 2015, teaching at many different locations all over Austin. At one point I was teaching at 14 different campuses. Then I spent four years teaching art in an elementary school just north of Austin at a job which I loved. 

After having a baby I desperately wanted to stay home with my child and so I am currently a stay at home mom and artist. As a teacher, it was really hard to get totally consumed in my projects during the school year. The way I had been balancing art with work-life was during the spring I would begin investigating an idea for a project and start working on it here and there as I could. Then over the summer when I no longer had such a rigid schedule I would work on it tirelessly and really let it become something. Now as a stay at home mom I find that while I still don’t have the resource of unlimited time, I do find plenty of opportunities to create and I think its important and wonderful for my son to see me making art.