She entered the world just before Christmas in 1947, as Syracuse, NY experienced exceptionally cold weather. Warm, well cared for, and wanting for nothing, she was lovingly spoiled by her mother, father, grandfather, and uncle. Six years later, three sisters arrived about a year apart.

Before the sisters arrived, as an unattended tiny artist with a nail polish project, the bathroom quickly dissolved into glorious abstract expression. At seven, she was chosen from her first grade class to draw a gingerbread man on TV. Ballet combined music, costumes, color, and movement—an early immersion into interdisciplinary arts.

Eventually came the "very good girl" path of marriage and motherhood, followed by an intellectual awakening through Women's Studies at exactly the moment when those ideas were crystallizing in the early '70s. The pivot to hippie, lesbian, pothead led most importantly to recovery and a new foundation for creative life.

In the late '70s, with basic sewing skills under her belt, she took a quilting class in Half Moon Bay, California. The traditional quilting scene was rapidly transforming, offering up innovative teachers, techniques, styles, and permission to strike out with one's own vision. She quickly jumped away from the traditional block, inspired by the new wave of art quilting exploding across the country. The Bay Area was a rich source of ideas, teachers, and materials.

Sharing this creative journey with her sister Allison Stilwell led to many years of individual and collaborative work. Known as the Weird Sisters, they developed "Artgirlz," creating kits for the wholesale craft industry that included handmade papers, wool felt shapes, rubber stamps, and pewter charms. They exhibited and taught both nationally and internationally, and their work appeared in numerous publications, including Cloth Paper Scissors, Quilting Arts, and Art Doll Quarterly.

The loss of her sister in 2014 left a gash in her creative momentum and eventually led to the study of painting. Primarily self-taught, she exchanged fabric, needles and threads for wood, canvas and brushes. Still on the wide path of learning, she is exploring color, value, texture, materials, politics, botanicals, marketing and self-acceptance. At the heart of her work is a philosophy of freedom and openness. She practices an approach to both art and life with a spirit of play: downplaying worry, judgment, and fear of mistakes. Creating is just a way of life and she cherishes her art tribe as a source of inspiration, information and support.

The art world is a very large and mysterious entity, so she is always on the lookout for a path that is slightly off center.