"I always knew I would be an artist. Art was the one consistent in my life, growing up as an only child in a military family. We moved a lot - about every two years, but there was always art wherever we landed. By the time I was in high school, my father had put in for an extension so that I could graduate high school in one location, a high school that allowed me to study at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC."
I attended college at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. Horrified that I was going to graduate from college with a painting degree, my dad convinced me to get a second degree. So I stayed around and majored in photojournalism. Don't get me wrong; my dad was always proud of my abilities, but he envisioned me working as an engineer or doctor. In the end, I graduated with a degree in Fine Arts (painting) and a degree in Mass Communications (photojournalism).
Upon graduation, I used my photography degree with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the Moffitt Cancer Center as a medical photographer. Later, I would dedicate myself full-time to being a photographer, creating large hand-painted black and white pinhole photographs. Over the past several years, my creative practice has afforded me Florida Individual Artist Fellowships in 1998, 2002, and 2008. In 2006, I received an Artist Enhancement Grant from the State of Florida and, in 2005, was commissioned by the City of Tampa to be Photographer Laureate for a year.
Along the way, I have curated, lectured, and exhibited work internationally at various arts institutions and organizations. My photographs are in numerous significant collections throughout the country, including Polaroid, Progressive Corporate Art, Graham Nash (Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young), Cassilhaus, Chapel Hill NC, Palace of the Governors, New Mexico Historical Museum, Museum of Fine Arts St. Pete, Candela Gallery, Richmond VA and the Tampa Museum of Art.