Mount Vernon Schools

Biography

I spend my days helping students discover ways  to more effectively express themselves through the language of the visual arts.  Using an investigative approach influenced by an earlier career as an environmental scientist, I help students experiment with techniques and processes. I also enjoy familiarizing students with the works and lives of great artists of the past.

After graduating from Seattle Pacific University in 1981 with a B.S. in Environmental Studies, I spent eight months in Somalia, East Africa, where I worked with women to build fuel efficient clay cookstoves. The goal of this project was to reduce firewood consumption, saving money and effort for the women and slowing deforestation of the fragile environment.

Upon returning home, I worked for a season as a mountain guide for Rainier Mountaineering, Inc., and then began working for an environmental consulting firm in Seattle.  

After nearly six years, and having moved to Anchorage, Alaska to help open a new office, I decided it was time to move on and try something new. I enrolled at the University of Alaska Anchorage and began working on becoming a teacher.

I have been teaching in Mount Vernon since 1993. Along the way I earned a masters degree, and in 2011 I earned National Board Certification in art.