Pittsburgh Artist Registry

I grew up in Pittsburgh's neighborhood of Bloomfield, also known as "Little Italy". Growing up in a very ethnic neighborhood, near a few very culturally diverse colleges, with a very artistic mother and bohemian father; I had no choice but to grow up embrace and love various ethnic arts. At a very early age I began reading and researching other cultures and their art. I began my art-teaching career when I was 18 and worked as Nature Crafts Director at a nearby summer camp. I have a degree in both Fashion Design and Fashion Illustration. After graduating, I taught History of Fashion, Figure/Fashion Illustration, Color-n-Design Theory and Textiles a local trade school for nearly 10 years. I joined the "Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology" and with my archaeological background and my love of ethnic arts I began doing Native petroglyph rock art. Besides fashion illustration and studio arts, I have worked many years in the film industry as a costumer and designer. I specialize in historic and ethnic costumes. Working on films such as "The Temptations", "Inspector Gadget", "Hoffa", etc. I was the City of Pittsburgh’s Art Director for four years until I moved to Los Angeles. After only a brief year in LA, I missed my family and ethnic roots back east, so I moved back to Pittsburgh...My HOME!  My Etsy Shoppe "ARTchaeology" is the ART of archaeology. www.ARTchaeology.etsy.com a combination of both my passions! Another passion of mine is film and theater. You can see my costume work at my new website  www.mustardseedproductions.webstarts.com. Since back from LA I have branched out into writing, directing and producing. The first play I directed and wrote was the "The Journey of the Magi" in 2007. The first film I wrote, and directed was, "Santa, me and Baby Jesus".
When I am not creating on my own, I am teaching. I teach special needs adults at CLASS (Community Living and Support Services and CCAC. My forte is teaching art, fashion including jewelry making, theatre and filmmaking, wheelchair dance, writing and healthy cooking. I was just awarded a Sprout Fund grant so that I can bring my latest project to Pittsburgh: “SAVE the Earth…SEW a Button”. This past year I have taught fashion at Propel after school program, Remake learning, Maker Faire and a few other venues.  I was just approached to be the guest speaker at one of the local charter schools for their upcoming fashion show in Feb 2018. 

The profile image is a self portrait done in chalk pastel of me while wearing a hat that I designed.

Thank you for reading my profile and I hope we have the oppurtunity to work on a project together.