About | Mysite

My life as a portrait artist and muralist begin at an early age, with a pencil drawing of my next-door neighbor's deceased husband who fought in WWI. Art would not become a true passion for me until I reach middle school working to develop and improve on drawing people and landscapes skills in pencil and watercolor. Moving on to high school I received many awards in art, I continued my pursuit for art in commercial art at Rutledge College with a degree in 1983 and an outstanding artist award from that school. These accomplishments opened the door for me to become a supervisor in the gold leaf department at Carolina Art and Frame in Kernersville, NC for 10 years.

While building the foundation of my career as an artist I would have the opportunity to be mentored by Richard Hedgecock and Paul Roseboro, who were established artists that encouraged me to continue developing my skills in different mediums. This led to me entering my first competition in 1992 at the Sawtooth Center for Visual Arts in Winston-Salem, N C where I received a merit award for my entry. 1995 my career began to escalate with the commission of a series of drawings and paintings for Forsyth County Partnership (Smart Start). By 1996 a long relationship with Segment Marketing Service Inc begin, capturing pastels, acrylics and oils portraits for an ongoing column called (Role Models Beyond Beauty) featured in Sophisticate’s Black Hair Magazine for 18 years. The magazine would show more than 200 portraits of accomplished ethnic women from all around the world that I was commissioned to paint. As my work begins to be more recognized in my community, another opportunity would be the commission to render a tribute to the history and progression of transportation by the Winston-Salem Transportation Department. 24 pillars of the city’s transportation center hub in downtown Winston-Salem, would come to life with designing of the 22 African American founders of the First Safe Bus Company, and the richness of its history along with the future of energy-efficient buses.

Also committed to giving back to the community. I worked with youth and adults to develop their skills as an artist teaching basic drawing and painting skills at the Sawtooth Center in Winston and in my studio from 2007-2015. I begin to be more committed to pushing my skillset to a newer level by painting my version of (The School of Athens) that’s in the Vatican in Rome by artist Raphael. Using mixed mediums of acrylic and oils, the piece has given me a truer look at how much I’ve grown and the need to improve in certain areas as an artist.

Working at Old Salem Museum and Gardens as Lead Interpreter at the St Philips African Moravian Heritage Center, I’ve utilized my creative skills to enhance the history of the African Moravian’s, and the many Moravian’s practices as they have evolved throughout North Carolina between the mid-1700s till today. In 2018-2019 I became an advisory board member of {The Federation of North Carolina Historical Societies} a coalition of historical societies, museums, historic sites, associations, and commissions dedicated to preserving and promoting history in North Carolina. A recipient of the 2018 Winston-Salem Arts Council (Duke Energy Regional Artist Grant), it enabled me to attend the 2018 Portrait Society of America National Conference, where I was able to sharpen my skills as a portrait artist. As a member of the St Peters World Outreach Center Arts and Media Team, I’m able to utilize my art skills through painting backdrops for the drama department as a set designer and became one of the church photographers. This has allowed me to see the world through many creative lenses, and how I capture life on canvas and other surfaces.