Name some artists that have influenced you: Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Biebl, Jazz soul, The Beatles, John Denver, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Joan Jett, James Taylor, Sting. Turina, Cindy Lauper, grunge but only peripherally, Samuel Barber, Haupt, the Indigo Girls, Heart, Bonnie Raite, Enya gawd help me, the Chieftains, the Gypsy Kings, Folklife, Bumbershoot, Lady Smith Black Mambazo, Randy Halberstadt, Clipper Anderson, Greta Matassa, etc.

At the age of 10 or 11, I had a summer job working as a TA in a 3-week program called Operation Exploration. Part of my job was creating a slide show of famous artists, and presenting daily. I became fond of Klee, Miro, Degas, Monet, Rembrandt, and Breugel as a result. 

Closer to home, I was exposed to local and regional artists like Preston Singletary, Roger Shimamura, Elton Bennett, Hasui Kawase, Jacob Lawrence, eventually Coast Salish, and Japanese art and cultural craft which continue to influence me.

Share an artistic accomplishment you are proud of: I have put on a few art shows, sold some work, have produced a few CDs of originals and covers. I toured internationally with a jazz band, and performed at the Hanoi Opera House. I think my greatest accomplishment however, is coming to the understanding that the process of making art is of value above and beyond its commercial appeal, or mastery of technique.

Why do you teach art? Because it's fun, and art is an avenue for so many people to a life well lived. Honoring a child or an adult "doing it their way" is in fact witnessing their unique expression of humanity.