I grew up in Cleveland Heights. I remember an early art experience at Noble Elementary School: The art teacher came to our second grade classroom and showed us how to draw a loaf of bread and then turn it into an image of an elephant. What a transformation! Later I enjoyed art classes in Cleveland and at the Cleveland Institute of Art. After graduating from Heights High, I came to the University of Michigan, leaving with a degree in civil engineering. Along the way I took a papermaking class at the U of M. I was hooked. In 2001 I established the Out of Hand Papermaking Studio where I enjoy transforming plant material into paper.