My 6th birthday party was held at the Art Institute of Chicago. My mom brought the cards from the Masterpiece board game, each of a painting in the collection, divided them up among my friends, and the search began. I have never stopped searching.
In between visits to the Art Institute, my childhood was spent doing school work and playing the cello and trombone. During college at Yale University, with new freedoms and exposure to so much culture, my love of the visual arts burst into life. At Yale, I soaked up everything I could about the history of art and architecture, and in 1987 earned a BA, cum laude, in the History of Art. More importantly, I started to paint. Days of wild excitement and passion as I immersed myself in the world of painting.
Then a more conventional reality came calling, and off to the University of Pennsylvania Law School I went. The JD certainly strengthened my left brain and helped support my family, but my right brain still yearned to create. After a few years working in a large Chicago law firm, an opportunity came around to blend the left and right sides of my brain.
In 1997, I joined Belgravia Group, a boutique Chicago residential development company, creating award-winning townhome and condominium communities all over Chicago. My deep knowledge of art and architecture helped me spearhead the development of some of the most architecturally innovative communities in the Belgravia Group portfolio, including 432 Grant Place and 565 Quincy. During my fifteen years in the real estate industry, I used construction, marketing, finance, law and human resources as tools to create giant living sculptures.
I loved my work as a real estate developer. But each creative moment was followed by years of execution and operations. My desire to touch every day that creative excitement and passion I had experienced in college only increased over time.
So in 2011 I stepped down as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Belgravia Group to honor my desire to create art. 25 years later, I’m back. And I could not be more fulfilled. I wake up each day excited to see what will materialize in my studio. Grateful for the opportunity to follow my vision and to immerse myself in constantly changing creative flow. So worth the wait.