Comprehensive logo design and brand development supported by hand illustration, vector design, photo manipulation, print production, and online marketing. I can't talk about my professional life without talking about where I came from. I grew up on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation in South Dakota. My father, an honest to goodness 'Cowboy', worked as a farm laborer for a local family run farming and ranching corporation. He made just under $10,000 a year to support a family of five. He ran a very small herd of cattle on the side, and, with borrowed equipment from his employer, maintained a 25 acre corn field. My mother raised us and pigs (our biggest source of income). Our house (provided by my dad's employer) was an actual old homestead that had been added onto at different times. In winter I slept with a snow drift at the end of my bed. My two sisters and I helped work the cattle and pigs, and irrigated the corn field at our grandmother's place. We were up before dawn doing chores, then off to school, then more chores, prepared dinner, ate, did homework, back down to do chores, and, finally, bed. I have been bone tired, muscle weary, and emotionally drained... and I loved every bit of it. As poor as we were, I was also a big fish in a small pond as a local artist. I won my first logo contest at the age of 11. I drew campaign posters for local county government candidates, did school program covers, and designed the senior t-shirts all four years of high school. I even kept samples for my 'portfolio' for whenever I would finally leave home and interview for jobs. I still have the logo I designed at 11, as well as printed t-shirts from 1983 to 1986. I sold my horse, saddle and cattle to go four hours away to Black Hills State College (now University) in Spearfish, SD. They had just instituted a Commercial Art Associates degree that I signed up for. I was just an artist from the river breaks with no previous 'artistic instruction', but was expected to already know primary colors, basic art techniques, artistic genres and styles, and so on. I knew nothing... and ultimately failed. I ended up homeless (our old homestead house burned down the year before our father passed away from the overwhelming hard work) without enough experience to get a job waiting tables, but I persevered. I started freelancing at that time in graphic illustration and design, along with some writing. I eventually went back to college and graduated with the Commercial Art Associates I started with, as well as a BS in Communications Art with a Graphics Emphasis, and a minor in Psychology. I was also just a few credits shy of getting Bachelor degrees in Industrial Technology (emphasis in Secondary Education), Psychology (emphasis in Personality Development), and Fine Art. What can I say. I like to learn as much as I like to work. I was never a kid with big dreams. I liked our life even though it was hard. My talent for graphic design and consequent career has taken me somewhat by surprise. I have only my mother to blame. She was my ambition when I had none. She was and is my main support. And my father... a man... a human being who was, and is, a Saint in every way that counts. A quiet reassuring presence in a world that eventually left him behind. Every step up in my career has been wonderful, yet hard earned. I don't know any other way to be than someone who puts their all into everything they do. Who needs ambition? Today, 30 years later, I am still a pig farmer's daughter, but also a damn descent graphic artist.
