White was trained at the Layton School of Art, the University of Berne in Switzerland, and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago with majors in design and commercial art in 1950. Upon graduations, she worked in commercial art and taught at the Layton School of Art. In 1961, she quit her career in commercial art to become a full-time teacher and painter. In 1963, she opened an art gallery near Egg Harbor in Door County.
In 1965, White moved from Wauwatosa to live on a 10-acre farmstead in Jackson. There, the city scenes she was known for began to be replaced with abstractions inspired by her natural surroundings. In her later years, White traveled to Cedarburg to explore printmaking and collage at Paul Yank’s studio.
White’s work has been exhibited at several galleries and museums nationwide including the Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as internationally in Australia, Canada, and Mexico.
