Before beginning my teaching career, I worked for 11 years as a graphic designer, holding positions including Creative Director for Fleishmann-Hillard, Inc. Public Relations, Woods Creative Group Marketing Communications, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. My graphic design work has won national awards from the Public Relations Society of America, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, and the International Association of Business Communicators, as well as regional awards from the Kansas City Advertising Club and the Kansas City Art Director's Club.

I earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Kansas City Art Institute. I also attended the Maryland Institute College of Art. Prior to joining the faculty at Avila University , I taught graphic design at the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Kansas.

Artist's Statement

My work reflects my interest in a range of artistic disciplines, including that of a graphic designer, educator, artist, and writer. All of these interests intuitively merge in my work, resulting in collages with elements from many different sources. Because I am primarily a graphic designer, and because of my personal interest in writing, text frequently appears in my work, contributing to the communication of the idea on many levels.

Formally I am interested in investigating tactile vs visual surface, layering and interweaving and its effect on sequence and contentual interpretation, the integration of found and altered materials removed from their ordinary context, and the merging of digital and traditional media.

Teaching Philosophy

I try to give students a broad understanding of design, approaching it from both ends at the same time: learning the principles, and exploring their own ideas. These are often treated as mutually exclusive; I find that a balance between the two works best. Too much of the rules, the do-it-this-way approach, and the students don't learn to think for themselves. Their work tends to look alike from one project to the next (and perhaps a lot like the instructorÕs). They do not learn to adapt the rules from one situation to the next - they aren't flexible and intuitive, since they have a narrow idea of how it 'should' be done. And they don't have an opportunity to try out their own ideas, which I hope is an important reason why they are there in the first place.

On the other hand, students who are encouraged to explore their ideas without any basis in the principles of design (typography, composition, functional problem-solving) are 'shooting in the dark', nothing is wrong so nothing is right, and they don't know why they're doing what they're doing.

Not unlike the balance between creative expression and problem-solving in my own commercial work, the balance of the two is what I give my students. Students are expected to push their ideas, while at the same time learning the principles - the principles of good typeface design, for example. It is by experiment that ideas are discovered, but it is through knowing and applying the principles to ideas that ideas are best explored and utilized.

I see students poring over Print and Communication Arts magazines, hoping to get the magic inspiration the designers published in these magazines must surely possess. The designers represented in these magazines have already gleaned their inspiration from their own more primary sources: the fine arts, other medium like film and video, the work of other cultures and times, external images like graffiti, natural pattern, vernacular signage and so on. Their designs, then, present these influences already filtered through that designer's sensibility. So what the students get, instead of that magic inspiration, are ideas that are two- and three-times removed from these primary sources. In turn the student's solution is predigested, bland and more-of-the-same. With this dilemma in mind, my students are encouraged to have a broad range of sources for their inspiration, to find their own primary sources, particularly the fine arts, and avoid the pointless reiteration of existing commercial work.

Along these lines, I believe that the study of the history of graphic design and of the work of graphic design pioneers (the Bauhaus, Constructivism, the work done in America by European graphic designers during and after WWII) is necessary for graphic design students to realize the standard that has been set. It is for this reason that projects referencing design history are included in many of my classes: for example, an oral or written presentation, followed by a visual presentation demonstrating an understanding of that specific historical topic.

Using the fine arts as a primary source is something I do in my own work. I began my undergraduate career as an illustration student, but then found myself leaning toward graphic design. Needing to rethink my plans, I spent a semester taking painting, drawing, and printmaking courses, after which I did decide to pursue a graphic design education. My work reflects my interest in a range of artistic disciplines, including that of a graphic designer, educator, artist, and writer. All of these interests intuitively merge in my work, resulting in collages with elements from many different sources. Because I teach graphic design, and because of my personal interest in both writing and reading, text appears in my work, contributing to the communication of the idea on a number of levels. I love the computer - it's a fun expensive toy. It is just another medium.

My work doesn't have any particular style or look to it. I determine what the client's image is (or should be), and I communicate to that client's audience, not to what I hope that audience is or what I want that audience to be (an audience of other designers, for example). I find this versatility and adaptability to be helpful in my commercial work - within a aesthetic standard, I give the client what they want and need, not what I want them to want. I experiment with new ideas, and consciously avoid using the same solutions twice.

In the classroom, this attitude and approach to design, in turn, allows me to be open to many different solutions that students generate. The work in my classes, from one student to another, is very different. I am comfortable with the students' experimentation, and open to a broad range of ideas. It isn't always easy - a safer solution is easier to evaluate as well as produce. But I find that a broader approach to my own work, in turn, helps cultivate a broader approach in my students' work.