I grew up in Nashville, TN, with my brother, sister, and parents. I realized at a young age that I was passionate about art and about being creative. I started drawing at the age of six and never really stopped. My high school art teacher was wonderful and really pushed and believed in me. I was awarded with an art scholarship to Southern Methodist University and graduated with a B.F.A. in 2003. After having spent one of my college semesters studying art in Paris, France, I had officially been bitten by the travel bug. After graduation, I moved to Costa Rica for a while where I was hired as a muralist at a beach resort. I spent some time traveling around Central America, all the while taking lots and lots of photos. After returning to the States, I went back to school for my Masters in Teaching, got married in July of 2005, and settled down in Smyrna with my husband, T.J. I have been teaching elementary art for 6 years now in public, private, and charter school settings all over Atlanta. Any other time, you can find me in my home studio painting away next to two sleeping dogs. My life experiences have fueled my inspirations or obsessions for certain subject matter. I am attracted to the idea of deterioration and unraveling of history. It might be a rusty dumpster, old chair, or weathering door. My goal is to give these images a life even if there’s not much life left in them. I usually work on medium to large canvases and use many materials such as coffee, pastels, charcoal, and oil paint. I believe in a rich layering of materials when representing those images that inspire me. Hope you enjoy my work!
-sHe
