At 86, I am embarking on my fourteenth lifetime. Like a chameleon of good nature, I am able to fit into whatever setting I am living in at the time. Having never learned to give up, and having the fortitude not to judge others, are my main characteristics. At the age of fifteen, pregnant and kicked out of school, I married my predator. At the age of eighteen, I had borne him three sons. Twenty years later, I made my escape. To prove to myself and to my family that I was worthy, I became a full-time student for the next 10 years.
Chicago
Bachelor of arts degree, Columbia College, Chicago.
Master’s degree in Studio Arts as a painter/ photographer from the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle.
Etchings, painting and sculpture in many exhibitions and galleries including The Ukrainian Museum of Fine Art and the First Street Gallery.
Studied at Truman College to complete credits for certification to teach art and English in Illinois and Michigan.
Detroit
Evening Art and English college instructor while working full time as a junior high and high school teacher for Detroit Public Schools.
Adjunct art faculty at Marygrove College and Henry Ford Community College.
Adjunct English instructor at Detroit College of Business.
Eight-year restauration of historical 18th century Early Victorian home filled with art on the Detroit Institute of Arts annual Founders Society Home Tour and the Woodbridge Historical Society home tours.
In 1998, I moved to Volcanic Lake Chapala in Mexico’s Central Highlands and opened The Kimball Gallery, a liaison between the Ex-Pat and Mexican communities.
I was the first person from the United States to win a medal from the Commercial de Guadalajara, for my paintings of Jalisco life. I wrote a newspaper column, Art Talk, and stories and articles for Mexico Insights, El ojo del lago, and Conecciones magazine. My stories are in four anthologies, Mexico: Sunlight and Shadows, All our words needed saying, Wild Ride and All but the Music. I'm the author of six published books, two novels and four works of non-fiction.
