I'm originally from Hamburg, N.Y., which is a little town south of Buffalo. I usually tell people: Hamburg is near Rich Stadium, you know, where the Buffalo Bills play? And Buffalo is just a bit south of Niagara Falls; you know, as in "The Seven Natural Wonders of the World"? Okay, as in, "Buffalo Wings"? As in, "Blizzards"? That's it!

I went to college at SUNY at Buffalo, a nice (a.k.a. "affordable") public university. Actually, it had a great illustration program; Alan Cober was flying in every week to teach courses, and Kathy Howell (the head of the department) got all these bigshots to lecture: Fred Woodward, Anita Kunz, Brad Holland, Matt Mahurin, etc... I guess I didn't miss out on much. I was there on a full Honors Scholarship, so when I got out, I had zero student loans to pay back. This enabled me to pursue a Bohemian lifestyle full-time.

Just Kidding.

I did an internship at the Buffalo News, and then like fate, I did this big advertising job for the now-defunct Levy King & White, which gave me enough money to move to New York City. Woo-Hoooo! So when I got there, I took my portfolio around, and I immediately got work from the Times and the Daily News. I never had to get a day-job, isn't that freaky?

The illustration was side-tracked for a few years when I was played cello in various rock bands, touring, etc. That stuff was time-consuming! I played with Hall & Oates, Richard Barone, Rasputina, and a bunch of others before I decided to concentrate more on the illustration. Take it from me, this is a much steadier income...

In October of 2003 I moved to Boulder, Colorado... quite a change of scenery! Now, instead of the used-tire dealership I used to look at from my window, I have beautiful snow-capped mountains and prairie dogs as a view. Boulder is a great place to live, and since I'd been sending work over the internet for years, it seemed I might as well get to a place I'd gladly move to if I had all the money in the world. With its university, excellent bike paths, and easy access to hardcore nature, this place suits me just fine. Lately I've been playing with The Longmont Symphony, which is a nice stretch after so many years in bands.

People here are super into outdoorsy sports, and it's contagious. Like all Boulderites, I now own a few pairs of those shiny black cycling shorts. So now I socialize while hiking or cross-country skiing, and I get organic vegetables delivered every week... when in Rome...

I work quite a bit, but when I'm not working, I do all the usual Bohemian stuff: read long-haired books, thrift shop, wander the city, hang with friends, invent new recipes, play chess, check out various forms of entertainment. A few times a year I try to take the low-road out of town... I did a lot of travelling with bands, but there are a number of places to go yet.

I've been getting more into the nuts and bolts of metaphor, reading about the business from the cognitive science / linguistics end of things. I'm at work on an obsessive project along those lines, but that's a little long-haired to get into right here...

Here's some links to interesting sites, for those interested in metaphor:

Metaphors at U. Oregon
Cognitive Science at Berkeley

Adios for now!

Lisa