I was born in Anchorage Alaska in 1979 to two professional artists, which proved to be an interesting upbringing. My parents were eager to pass on their knowledge and skills to me, and I have many happy memories of painting next to my father in his basement studio, while being cautioned by him not to eat the blue paint because it was poisonous. With both of my parents home most of the day, I was fortunate to have a close bond with my immediate family, including my older brother and younger sister, and I am still very close with my family today. I also got to
see many of the inner workings of the art world firsthand, and had access to a wide variety of materials and mediums.

At 13 I started making jewelry with polymer clay and selling some of it. I made things like tiny little hot dogs with ketchup and mustard to turn into earrings, and even then paid meticulous attention to tiny details, like the pucker marks on each end of the frankfurters. I took a variety of assorted art-related odd jobs throughout high school, like designing logos, painting murals, and dressing up as the Easter Bunny at the mall (which was the beginning and end of my career as an actor). I worked as an illustrator for the teen section of the local newspaper for my last year of high school, then went to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks to study art after graduation.

I married very young and in January of the year 2000, my daughter, Winter, was born, just a few weeks after I finished my Associates' degree. I switched to part time studies that semester and began working full time doing price changes at night in a grocery store. I, my daughter, and my husband lived in a one room cabin with a wood stove, no indoor plumbing or running water, and two maladjusted cats. It was sort of like camping, but with no discernible end. I learned a lot about the meaning of survival, and gained a new appreciation for thermostats and flush-toilets.

Over the next several years I continued taking art classes at the university, switched jobs a few times, and eventually moved back into Fairbanks city limits and had plumbing again. I experimented with gluing dried out bagels and breakfast cereals to masonite in my painting course.

... continued at www.artbychristel.com