About the Artist

Where it all began...

I was born in Red Wing, Minnesota, and raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. My parents tried to make a living off milk cows and farm land. As the family grew, my parents decided to move to Langdon (a small village just outside of St. Paul Park), Minnesota, getting off the farm, so that my father could go to work in St Paul at the American Hoist..

I attended Oltman Grade School in St. Paul Park and later the little red brick school in Langdon, where my mother would assist the teacher taking advantage our set of encyclopedias. It was in third grade that someone, my teacher, realized my artistic ability, and pointed it out to my mother. (I had drawn a cat on a rug for her.)

As I started fifth grade, my father was anxious to try his hand at running a farm again and wanted to move back to Wisconsin. At the age of 10, we were in transient again, now in Vermillion, Minnesota, a small village outside of Hastings, where we rented a farm for a year and I attended Hastings grade school to finish off the fifth grade. A year later, we were living in Ellsworth, Wisconsin on a farm where we did a lot of work to build back up again from scratch -- clearing the weedy yard; cleaning out the chicken coop, quonset and barn; and fixing broken machinery and fences. We cut a lot of trees, chopped a lot of wood, and pushed down a lot of hay for the cows.

My sister and I learned to cook and sew at an early age. But we also learned about farming outside, working the land with crops and more, along with our brothers. It was a hard and demanding life. It seemed like we always had to work either in the garden, out in the fields and pasture, or wherever help was needed. It was either farm work or school work. We received no allowance for our efforts. We were told that the roof over our heads and the food on the table was our pay. Once in a while, though, we received compliments that told us how well we did. Most encouragement or "Atta-boys (/girls)" came from my mother. She knew that people needed encouragement no matter what. She helped us to feel proud when we did something well. My father was a stubborn and proud man who seemed embarrassed if he gave any kind of encouragement or praise at all.

I became an employee at the age of 17, at a plastics factory. I used to think my childhood was hard. But I found it to be beneficial for future employment, acceptance and a drive to improve myself. I learned early what it meant to work, fast and efficiently. When my father spoke, we jumped. And that is exactly how I worked the rest of my life. It gave me a desire to forge forward and expand my knowledge and abilities. I remember my first boss, at one point, said, "You save me!" -- encouraging, to say the least.

Since then, I excelled in both work and home. I raised a wonderful family, took evening classes to get my degrees, and became a business woman. My first desire was to be a math teacher; but instead took a spin into the technical field. During my career, I worked as a commercial artist, computer operator, programmer, marketing analyst, project leader, software quality engineer, customer support, trainer/consultant, process engineer, manager in various aspects, and a hospital volunteer. I also had the opportunity to work for Daniel Webster College as a professor, teaching UNIX to a group of Healthsource individuals. My most favorite of all was as a consultant helping customers to understand how our products would benefit their business. I delivered product presentations and demonstrations, followed by training the customers in-house and onsite, traveling across the states as well as Germany and Puerto Rico. My most proud and satisfying teaching adventure was when I was able to get a group of non-English-speaking people to understand how to run the application successfully by the end of a week. I used a bit of German that I had learned in Junior High.

On the farm, with tools in hand, I learned how to tear things apart, fix them and build them back up again. One such item was a music box on a bracelet chain given to me by my grandfather's new wife, Janette. The wonders of the mechanical parts and how they played together intrigued me. That carried over into things I do today in my home. For home improvement, for instance, I bought a circle saw, bracket, etc. and installed a ceiling fan (there was no box in the ceiling with which to start); teased, of course, by the men at work. I changed tires, changed oil in my car and figured out how to start a car with a bad cylinoid and more. Needless to say, I am proud of what I can do, and not afraid to do, on my own.

Art has always been a passion. As for my artistic ability, as mentioned above, I've always had a natural ability to draw, starting as a child. When living in Albuquerque, (and not working for a short time), I had the opportunity to take an inexpensive class at the Vocational Institute: free-hand illustration and techniques as well as line-art drawing. This is where my artistic ability was enhanced. I learned some basic techniques to drawing, i.e. shading objects to make them look real. From these new learned concepts and techniques, I pulled together a simple, small portfolio and applied at American Furniture for a commercial artist position. At my amazement, I was hired! - yet another proud moment. While working as a Commercial Artist, I picked up more tricks of the trade, ways to make objects look real.

Photography became a passion when I realized the magic behind those mechanical parts and how they worked together to create an image. I was intrigued by what and how to set up and shoot for composition of what I saw in front of me. Learning how to set depth of field, field of view, etc., was tricky but exciting - to wait in anticipation for the photo that was developed from the film. With a friend's help, I learned more while shooting flowers and then scenery everywhere we visited. I even had the opportunity to assist at weddings, as the second photographer, capturing moments that the first photographer didn't have time to catch. What fun and satisfying times.

As for writing, I never knew my words, or the way I wrote them, were any different than anyone else's. Then during an English Literature class at Daniel Webster, one of my creative writings was sent into a publishing company by my professor. Long story short, it was finally published in a magazine. That story was the one I called, "Life Everlasting". You will find it here under "Writings in Time", among other pieces completed over the years. (A note: Among my writings, you will also find those of my precious son and daughter as well as my granddaughter - all my pride and joy. There is also a bit of writing about my grandparents. Enjoy!)

For other fun activities, I performed in numerous community theater plays: "Annie", "The Sound of Music", "Fiddler on the Roof", and "Music Man" (but mostly for the singing parts). I also sang in community chorus and performed in concerts, even solos.

And now, I continue my favorite activities and hobbies, including photography, theater, dance, chorus, piano, home improvement, interior decorating, arts and crafts. Now in my retirement, I hope to design and make my own clothes again and also get back to drawing and painting.

So today, I am excited to share my favorite photos of special times, places and things experienced in the past and present. Stay tuned as I enhance these pages and watch them grow. Who knows what will transpire.

Smile and keep celebrating life!

~ Time and You ~