I'm currently planted and growing in the artistic Victorian village of Eureka Springs in the Ozark Hills. I was transplanted here at the age of 10, from the wilderness of Alaska. Back then, I thought we were moving to the jungle. The change was unsettling, but I eventually grew to love the friendly "natives", the scenic yet subdued surroundings, and the novelty of electricity and running water.
I have spent my life immersed in the creation of art. My father is a prolific landscape and wildlife painter, a gift passed down from his parents. I enjoying doing a lot of the photography, photo editing, and modeling on the site; as well as designing and sewing. I like creating clothing with handmade, natural, vintage lace and linens, soaking up and preserving the history and stories within each unique work of art. I also upcycle knit and crocheted pieces and occasionally make dresses from vintage patterns, adding unique details whenever possible.
My mother was a school teacher, now a librarian, and has helped develop my interest in the literary arts (as well as given me the blessing of a geeky math and science side). My family has always encouraged my artistic expression, whether it was in the form of my desperate and discordant attempts to learn the piano, or dressing up in my home made silver space alien costume for the senior prom.
Through the support of a large loving family, as well as my friends and teachers, I graduated high school at the top of my class. Always a supporter of freedom of expression, I gave a controversial and offbeat speech at graduation that involved playing our chosen class song that the school board had decided was unsuitable. They withheld my diploma and put a kill switch on the mic for the following year, but I will never forget the ecstatic and surprised expressions of my classmates.
I then moved on to more fertile ground at the University of Arkansas, where I majored in Art. I absolutely loved it and flourished in the intensely creative and intellectual surroundings. I quit my senior year, however, due to the tragic loss of a dear friend.
I flew from sorrow by traveling across various new lands, oceans, and perspectives. Condolences were found in the grand adventures of hearing Bob Dylan play in Amsterdam, bouldering in the Baja, and hut-hopping through the Talkeetna Mountains of Alaska. I worked odd jobs including organic farming, volunteering as a back-country ranger in the blast zone of Mount St. Helens, and painting for a company that designs and builds theatrical style, themed environments.
I eventually settled myself and my emotions back in Arkansas, where most of my family and friends reside. I continued to work as a faux-finishing painter until I developed sensitivities and allergies to a wide range of foods and chemicals, including most paints. Once again I found myself seeking refuge. I turned to artistic endeavors that involved gentle, pure and natural mediums. My illness reawakened my desire to sew, partly due to the fact that I was told to wear only natural and organic clothing. I had designed and created clothes often as a teenager and while in college, desperate for the clothing that seemed to exist only in my imagination. Once I started creating again, I just kept on, sewing and sewing.
Eventually a friend asked if I was interested in listing my work on a website that I was rather unfamiliar with. That was the beginning of my admiration for Etsy. The camaraderie, the brilliance, and the revival of hand made.
I would like to now give an emphatic round of applause to the Etsy team, the artisans, and the customers for making this experience possible. I would take my hat off to you, but I already sold it on Etsy.
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