I grew up in a small town in Iowa under the art direction of two very creative parents. My father was a gunsmith who fabricated Kentucky long-neck muzzle-loading rifles by hand. My mother had her hand in nearly everything artistic from wood carving and painting to eventually owning and operating her own photography studio for over twenty years. As a child, I loved drawing, painting, and playing with modeling clay on the floor of my parent’s workshop.

Many years later my love of all things creative landed me at Watkins College of Art and Design in Nashville, TN where I graduated from in 2008 with a B.F.A. in Graphic Design. During my time there I enjoyed both analog and digital ways of creating from printmaking and painting to an alternative processes photography course as well as my design courses. I also enjoyed an internship at the world-famous letterpress studio Hatch Show Print.

After graduating, my husband and I migrated back to Des Moines and I landed my first design gig at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino. I spent just over three years in that position learning as much as I could while still keeping my hands busy creating in my home studio at night. I still have a studio and practice making art daily. Creativity is a way of life for me.

My current gig at Casey’s has allowed me to expand my repertoire in design, motion design, and branding. I’ve created many wonderful things with Casey’s from truck billboards to packages, dreaming up fun ideas for social media and art-directing photo shoots.

My creative approach is to find connections between things and work up several iterations while playing with those connections until I find the one that ignites a spark that speaks to me as the most meaningful and the best way to visually communicate the idea. I love to continually learn and push my design and leadership skills.

If you’d like to work with me, send me an email and we can start a conversation on what we can create together! Thanks for stopping by!