About My Art

My work is primarily in paper, both paper sculpture and cut-paper. The paper sculptures are made from hand-painted and textured papers, which are then cut, torn, folded and crumpled together to create vibrant pictures filled with depth and rich color.

 

The cut-paper pieces are created by cutting intricate details of contour lines, shadows and shapes. These pieces are usually made from a solid cover stock and then laid over a contrasting sheet.

 

 

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Experience

KS ILLUSTRATION, Chicago, IL

Freelance Illustrator/Designer, 2002 – Present

Illustrations for children’s educational games, stories, and poems.

Design and create illustrations for greeting cards, invitations, postcards, flyers, posters.

Create fine art illustrations for display.

 

CRICKET MEDIA, f.k.a. Carus Publishing/Cricket Magazine Group, Chicago, IL (Children’s media company that produces high-quality learning opportunities for kids, K-12, at home and at school.)

Digital Art Director, 2014 – Present

Associate Art Director of Digital Media, 2013 – 2014

Oversee Interactive & Creative Direction, Design, and Production for digital products:

• Hire, train, and manage 8 person staff of designers, design assistants, animators.
• Create, design, and art direct digital editions and stand-alone activities with narration, animation, interactivity, games.

Strategic planning, design, and implentation for new digital products:

• Launched 15 digital edition products (from May 2012 to July 2013): researched technical production options, tested software, negotiated price, created templates and visual library, collaborated with editorial to create content.
• Worked with developer to overlay collaborative platform over existing app structure.
• Creative lead to develop Story Bug App: designed a library of books from internal content, art directed new content in conjunction with Marriott partnership, and collaborated with Library of Congress to redesign “classic” children’s books.

 

Assistant Art Director, 2012 – 2013

Designer, 2007 – 2012

Assistant Designer, 2006 – 2007

Collaborate with editorial teams for print magazines:

• Design, illustration, and print production for CLICK and CRICKET Magazines.
• Transitioned art department from Quark to Indesign (trained and set up new templates and style sheets).
• Led training sessions for art department on Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat shortcuts.

Design and maintain digital presence for magazine brands:

• Designed, wireframed, and collaborated with developer to make 8 Drupal websites in 6 months.
• Point-person for maintenance (Drupal, CSS, JS) and Flash game creation on websites.
• Collaborated with editors to create 10 ebooks in 2 months (included learning software and uploading to reseller sites).
• Storyboard, design, and animate stories for Ladybug’s Bookshelf app series (2 made it to #1 in Education category of iTunes) and Ready, Set, Spot! game app.

 

RIVERSIDE GRAPHICS, Chicago, IL (Produces offset printed and copied materials for 30+ years. Customers include small entrepreneurs to local and national corporations.)

Computer Graphics, 2000 – 2006

Prepare stationery, newsletters, brochures, ads for press:

• Design stationery and marketing materials according to customer specifications.
• Develop customer relationships through personal visits and ordering site training.

Manage and update online ordering site for existing and new customers:

• Automate online proofing, reducing proofing time and potential mistakes.
• Redesign website to focus on how customer can submit quotes, jobs and files.

Establish and manage Riverside Graphics' company brand:

• Design stationery package for all internal and external communications.
• Create promotional illustrations, brochures, calendars, holiday cards, stationery.

Train and supervise new design staff.

 

STUDENT LIFE, St. Louis, MO (One of nation's oldest college newspapers, founded in 1878 and incorporated in 1999. Student-run paper published by Washington University Student Media, Inc, a Missouri non-profit corporation, twice weekly.)

Managing Editor, 1999 – 2000

Oversee online edition:

 • Post semi-weekly edition of student newspaper.

 • Head redesign of online edition, including establishing a discussion board.

Oversee design of print edition:

 • Provide designers of print edition with feedback and support.

 • Hire and train new designers.

Handle budget issues and payroll for staff.

 

Online Editor, 1998 – 1999

Redesign website by improving readability and aesthetics.

Post online edition of student newspaper.

 

Cadenza Art Director (Arts/Entertainment Insert), 1998 – 1999

Work with photographers and editor for cover art.

Consult on overall design.

 

Design Manager, 1996 – 1998

Collaborate with editors and photographers to design front page.

Design special graphics and layouts for features/sports sections.

 

Education

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, St. Louis, MO,1996 – 2000

B.F.A, concentration in Visual Communications–Illustration

minor in Film Studies

 

LORENZO DE MEDICI INSTITUTE, Florence, Italy, 1998

4-week summer study in Animation and History of Italian Renaissance

 

Software

Expert knowledge: Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Flash, ActionScript), Aquafadas, Audacity

 

Working knowledge: Adobe Creative Cloud (Digital Publishing, Muse, Dreamweaver, Premier), Calibre, Sigil, HTML/CSS, MagPlus, Microsoft Office