Throughout my early years, I had always had a creative spirit and had been interested in the arts.  But, it was only by chance that I picked up a limited pallet of acrylic paint and a paintbrush and discovered an outlet of emotion and expression that I could never describe in words. 

           I began to decorate the walls of my bedroom with mental images that danced through my head.  My parents nurtured my creative spirit as I began to teach myself how this newfound medium worked and how it could be manipulated.  I began to work outside the walls of my bedroom and paint furniture, wood, slate, and about anything else I could get my hands on. 

          After graduating from high school, I decided to pursue an integrative arts degree at Penn State University.  There I studied form, music, theory, history and drawing.   Throughout my college career I never took a painting class, but I continued to paint outside of the classroom as an emotional release.  Using the theoretical, form, and historical knowledge that I was receiving in the classroom, I further developed my painting on my own time.  

         In 1999 I graduated from Penn State and celebrated a marriage to my husband, Brian.  Shortly there after, I began working at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children as an aide.  Two years later, I was offered a teaching position at the school that entailed teaching art to 10 –21 year olds with severe mental retardation.   I was excited about the challenge because I knew that art would be an excellent therapeutic element in these children’s lives and that it could give them the same outlet that it gave me.  Little did I know that these children would inspire me beyond what I had ever thought possible. 

Since beginning my teaching career, I have attained my masters degree in Special Education from Seton Hill University.

           Throughout my life, I have spent a lot of time outdoors, walking, observing and just taking in the smells, the sounds, and colors.  Nature is a driving inspiration in my life.  It is continually renewing itself and entrancing me with its ever-changing beauty. It is discouraging that I can not keep that emotion forever.  Clouds mutate, leaves blow in the wind, and the sun eventually goes down in a colorful ending. I find these emotions paralleled in the expressions of my newborn son.  I look at him, smell him and touch him.  The overwhelming love that I experience when I look at him is something that I would love to capture in a bottle and pass around.  But, I can’t.  Therefore, through my painting, I wish to capture all of this energy and all of my emotions and pass them on to others with the best of my ability.

MY RESUME

Education:

• Pennsylvania State University

-        Bachelor degree in Integrative Arts                                   1995-1999

• Seton Hill University

-        Masters in Special Education with certification                 2002-2004

Work Status:

• Founder and Artist/Designer of Off the Wall Painting              1996-present
• Art Instructor at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children                                                                                                                2002 - 2004
• Health and Physical Education Instructor at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children                                                                       2002-2004  

Shows and Gallery work:

• Penn State Gallery, New Kensington Pa    December, 2003
• John Edwards Gallery, Export Pa    December, 2000
• Apple and Arts Festival, Delmont Pa   Oct. 2002, 2003, and 2004

Commissioned Works: Commercial and private:

• Wall murals throughout the Kids Own Play Zone in Murrysville, Pa.
• “Street Scene in Venice” Mural at the Kiski Valley Inn in Saltsburg, Pa.
• “Wildlife” mural at the Kiski Valley Inn in Saltsburg, Pa.
• “John Wayne” and “Marilyn Monroe” chairs located at the Kiski Valley Inn in Saltsburg, Pa
• 3 Hand-painted tabletops located at the Kiski Valley Inn.
• A fireboard painted with the pre-civil war version of the Centre Furnace Mansion. Located at the Center Furnace Museum.
• A Tavern Sign painted with the private owners stone house and farm name. Located at the private owner’s home in State College, Pa.
• 2 wildlife acrylics on canvas for two private owners. Both owners located in Export, Pa.
• Acrylic on canvas of owners historic home, located in Saltsburg, Pa.
• Murals in three elementary classrooms at St. Gertrude Elementary school located in Vandergrift, Pa.
• “Country Garden” mural at the Spitfire Grill restaurant in Greensburg, Pa.

·       Other work:

• Brochure cover design for Clelian Heights School located in Greensburg, Pa.
• Architectural and design consultations at Spitfire Grill in Greensburg, PA.
• Design consultations in homes throughout the area.
• Numerous hand-painted works in homes throughout the area including murals, borders, and other hand-painted touches.