Biography

I graduated in 1988 with a B.F.A. from Cardinal Stritch College in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There I studied under the renowned artist and art lector, Sr. Thomasita Fessler (1912-2006). After I continued studies with her in a group of students she called the "T-Haus." For me this was the beginning of an apprenticeship between 1989 1994. Sr. Thomasita was internationally known for her artworks, lectures, and travels. She received several distinguished awards for her devotion to art education and she was featured in LIFE Magazine in 1953. In 1990 after her retirement from Cardinal Stritch collage at the age of seventy nine, I helped her to relocate her "Studio San Damiano" to a four story wing of a closed high school in Milwaukee. This was a massive undertaking that involved many volunteers, for me it included everything from packing paintings and her many collections of artifacts, to pulling up floors and making the walls to hang exhibits on. The new Studio San Damanio was a two-floor exhibition space which offered adult and children's art education classes, which Sr. Thomasita always filled. As part of my "apprenticeship" I was a teaching assistant there for children's art classes between 1993-1994.

I studied at the Art Institute of Chicago during my summers throughout college for credit from 1984 to 1990. There I took Figure Drawing, Figure Painting and Printmaking (Etching) classes. Afterward I periodically took various printmaking classes at the Evanston Arts Center between 1990-1994.
In Chicago during the summers it was particularly nice on my commute to school to walk past master artworks between the train station and the Art Institute . I loved passing Miro's, "The Sun, The Moon And One Star," "The Picasso" and Marc Chagall's, "The Four Seasons." As a student having access to one of the countries greatest art museums, The Art Institute of Chicago couldn't be beat.

I've had the opportunity to travel to several countries. My first visit overseas was in 1981 when I was 16 years old. This had a huge impact on me and further fueled my aspirations to become an artist.
In 1987, 1989 and 1990 I was fortunate to be able to tour with Sr. Thomasita who was a seasoned world traveler and annually went on tours catered for her by a local travel agency. These tours focused on the art in any given country or countries that she would choose to visit. My travels include Austria, Egypt, Germany, Gibraltar, Holland, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, and Spain. I've taken hundreds photos from all these places and refer to them regularly as inspiration for my work.