Biography

I was born in New York in 1952. For as long as I can remember, I loved to paint, draw and sculpt. My great aunt Frieda was an artist and a poet who lived in Manhattan. She was an inspiration to me in many ways. I remember making clay sculptures in her apartment as a young child and taking walks to Riverside and Central Parks to admire Mother Nature in all of her glory.

The schools I attended had wonderful art departments. In addition to visual art classes in public school, I was taught oil painting by a local artist and attended a school for the visual and performing arts on weekends. In my high school years I took the train into Manhattan to attend the Art Students League of New York.

During my senior year of high school I was an American Field Service exchange student and live with a lovely, Austrian family in a small town called Neumarkt an der Ybbs, located about one hour west of Vienna in Lower Austria. I learned to speak German fluently and had some wonderful adventures. I also learned to enjoy the country life there, which later influenced my decision to live in a rural location. During that year, I did not receive much arts education and decided to switch my choice of studies from fine arts to psychology.

I chose to study at Clark University, because it had an outstanding psychology department. Fortunately, when I decided to switch my major to fine art, I was able stay at Clark University and study at the Worcester Art Museum. I spent my junior college year living in Florence, Italy, and studying painting, art history, and anatomy at the Academy of Fine Arts. I mention my temporary defection from the arts because I want to illustrate a point: if we do not receive a good arts education, often times we loose interest and our passion for the arts. Students who do not have the opportunity to receive a quality arts education are missing an important part of their education.

After graduating with a BA in Fine Arts and a teaching credential in art in 1974, I became an artisan. Over the next 27 years, my husband, Gary Stephens, and I moved to northern California where we work and reside on our hydro and solar powered homestead. We started "Wooden it be Nice", our woodworking company and from 1975 to 1995 made wooden bowls, silk-screened wooden boxes, coasters, jewelry, selling them at west coast craft shows. We presently hand-dye, print and paint on organic cotton clothing and changed the name of our business to "Organic Attire".