My Story
I grew up in Southern California where my design aesthetic was influenced by the 1970's beach culture, vintage Hollywood, and Disneyland; all just a few minutes form my front door. After high school I grabbed my surfboard and journeyed across the Pacific to attend art school at the University of Hawaii, Manoa where I studied Studio Art and Communication. After college I left paradise and moved back to sunny Southern California to pursue a career in commercial art.
My list of professional accomplishments is vast. I started my career as a Decorating Supervisor on floats for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. I soon moved on to be an Advertising Catalog Designer for S.E.Rykoff & Co. where I designed catalogues for gourmet foods and cookware. After spending a year in Los Angeles, tropical San Diego beckoned to me and I joined the team at FingerPrints of California. I soon became Art Director at Fingerprints, developing and promoting proprietary stationery, gift lines, and licensed programs with Disney Consumer Products, Disney Parks and Resorts, Universal Studios, Beatrix Potter, the NBA, NFL, and MLB Licensing Groups.
My next career move was to become the Creative Director of Licensing at Suzy's Zoo. I developed and directed three art based licensing programs; the highly successful brands, Little Suzy's Zoo (as a key team member in the escalation of annual gross licensing sales to over $300M for 2005), Adventures in Duckport (collaboratively produced with B.B.C. America and Moon Mesa Media) , and Wags and Whiskers (collaboratively produced with Pet Co). I also Art Directed many of the Suzy's Zoo retail product lines and consumer catalogs. After leaving Suzy's Zoo I founded Agenda 9, a San Francisco based design cooperative, working with clients including Andrea Burnett P.R. and Media, Nordstrom Men's Style, Williams-Sonoma Publishing, along with other major retail brands.
A recent empty-nester, I downsized and moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2011 to experience life in the jewel of the Mid-west and it's four-season living. In 2013 I opened my freelance studio just a stone's throw from beautiful Cedar Lake, where I specialize in what I love, vintage-style design and illustration. My most recent clients include October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Modify Ink, Echo Park Paper, and Rebel Entertainment Arts Licensing. With Rebel I developed several exciting children's publishing programs and giftware programs. Along with my freelance work I am the Lead Designer and Illustrator at Carta Bella Paper Co., developing fine art paper goods including stationery, giftware, and calendars.