Raised on the west coast with active older brothers, getting outside was the paramount desire of her mother who could not abide bored children underfoot. The nearby beach became a playground with endless possibilities for made-up games and the collecting of beach detritus. This outdoor experience simmered until her rite of passage trip to Europe as a young woman. While in Paris, living with an artist friend and having her portrait painted, she decided that art school was calling. Graduating from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 1985, she embarked on a career of freelance photography in Vancouver with the goal of exhibiting as much as possible. Although now no longer in the darkroom and having switched her focus to textile art, her eye continues to be drawn to the beach scenes of her childhood.