I am a graphic designer, educator, wife and mother of two gorgeous children—Seriously, I am not just saying that as their mom. My kids are really good looking, like model material. Not sure how that happened.
Originally from Wayne, Pennsylvania, I have a BA in English from Villanova University. Not knowing what to do after graduation, but always needing to be useful and productive, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps serving in Cape Verde, West Africa for over two years where I taught English as a second language. Yes, things were tough on that small desert island of Sal where I lived, dealing with friendly, beautiful Cape Verdeans and Italian ex-pats inviting me on to their catamarans. I saw why it is called “the toughest job you’ll ever love.”
I then returned to the Philadelphia area and attended Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, receiving my MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design. Immediately after graduating, in the summer of 2004, I taught a summer design workshop for Tyler’s Tokyo, Japan campus.
Since moving to the west Texas town of El Paso in the late summer of 2004 to teach at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), I have been the recipient of Gold and Silver ADDY awards from the Advertising Federation of El Paso and received honorable mention in the 9th International Biennial of the Poster held in Mexico City in 2006 and was a finalist in 2008, and 2010. In 2009 I was invited as one of only 100 designers worldwide to participate in the poster exhibit Voices in Freedom sponsored by the International Biennial of the poster in Mexico City.
Originally from Wayne, Pennsylvania, I have a BA in English from Villanova University. Not knowing what to do after graduation, but always needing to be useful and productive, I joined the U.S. Peace Corps serving in Cape Verde, West Africa for over two years where I taught English as a second language. Yes, things were tough on that small desert island of Sal where I lived, dealing with friendly, beautiful Cape Verdeans and Italian ex-pats inviting me on to their catamarans. I saw why it is called “the toughest job you’ll ever love.”
I then returned to the Philadelphia area and attended Temple University’s Tyler School of Art, receiving my MFA in Graphic and Interactive Design. Immediately after graduating, in the summer of 2004, I taught a summer design workshop for Tyler’s Tokyo, Japan campus.
Since moving to the west Texas town of El Paso in the late summer of 2004 to teach at The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), I have been the recipient of Gold and Silver ADDY awards from the Advertising Federation of El Paso and received honorable mention in the 9th International Biennial of the Poster held in Mexico City in 2006 and was a finalist in 2008, and 2010. In 2009 I was invited as one of only 100 designers worldwide to participate in the poster exhibit Voices in Freedom sponsored by the International Biennial of the poster in Mexico City.
In 2011 my work was included in LogoLounge Master Library Volume 3: 3000 Shape & Symbol Logos and in 2012 in LogoLounge Master Library, Volume 4: 3000 Type & Calligraphy Logos, both by Catherine Fishel and Bill Gardner. In 2014 I was a finalist for the The Texas Institute of Letters’ Fred Whitehead Award for Design of a Trade Book for my design of Remember Dippy by Shirley Reva Vernick, published by Cinco Puntos Press. In 2020, my design won First Place, Annual Reports Category, in the PRINT Awards (formerly known as the PRINT Regional Annual Awards), presented by Adobe for the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo 2019 Year-End Report. I have published and presented articles on design education in international scholarly journals and conferences from Hawaii to Saint Petersburg, Russia. I was also amazingly grateful in 2022 when my Fuck Putin poster could be made into bags in Amsterdam and sold with all the profits going directly to non-profits that help Ukraine fight the war against Russia.
I enjoy most designing for the community, the environment, the arts, human rights, multi-culturally, the under dog / against "the man", and anything having to do with wonderful, wonky vernacular, ghost signs, and historic typography. I am also a well-recognized grammar (not gonna use that n-word) xazi and self-proclaimed enforcer of correct hyphen, en-dash, and em-dash usage in the El Paso–Juárez region—as you may have already guessed from this sentence ; )
In addition to designing lots and lots of stuff for over fifteen years, I LOVE traveling, especially off the beaten path—favorite trips include Lhasa, Kathmandu, Victoria Falls, Kyoto, The Dogon Country, Chengdu, Barcelona and all over Italy. Travel informs my design and I see it as an investment in myself. My best case scenario: disembarking after a long train ride into a place I have never been where people are wearing strange-to-me clothing and speaking a language I do not understand, cell phones do not work and credit cards are not accepted, all I have is the summer off, a Lonely Planet guidebook, and a voice inside my head that says SHOW TIME!
Currently, I work out of my home studio in the EP and teach all levels of graphic design as a tenured, Associate Professor at UTEP.
I enjoy most designing for the community, the environment, the arts, human rights, multi-culturally, the under dog / against "the man", and anything having to do with wonderful, wonky vernacular, ghost signs, and historic typography. I am also a well-recognized grammar (not gonna use that n-word) xazi and self-proclaimed enforcer of correct hyphen, en-dash, and em-dash usage in the El Paso–Juárez region—as you may have already guessed from this sentence ; )
In addition to designing lots and lots of stuff for over fifteen years, I LOVE traveling, especially off the beaten path—favorite trips include Lhasa, Kathmandu, Victoria Falls, Kyoto, The Dogon Country, Chengdu, Barcelona and all over Italy. Travel informs my design and I see it as an investment in myself. My best case scenario: disembarking after a long train ride into a place I have never been where people are wearing strange-to-me clothing and speaking a language I do not understand, cell phones do not work and credit cards are not accepted, all I have is the summer off, a Lonely Planet guidebook, and a voice inside my head that says SHOW TIME!
Currently, I work out of my home studio in the EP and teach all levels of graphic design as a tenured, Associate Professor at UTEP.