Born in rural Ohio, I moved to Central Illinois after marrying the coolest guy I have ever met in college. He was a former Eureka Hornet, and for many reasons we decided to take root in the center of the state. Early in our marriage we migrated from Normal to Peoria while I taught art and photography at a local high school and he taught future graphic designers how to open Adobe programs at the college level. We had some kids (boys to be specific) and decided it was time for an adventure. That’s when we gave it all up for a two-year adventure in Northern Ireland where we volunteered at a peace and reconciliation center overlooking the ocean. Not a bad deal. While we were there we had another child (another boy!) and dreamed of a simpler life that we were determined to return to in America. In the summer of 2013 that dream took the form of Eureka, Illinois, and we have loved everything about living here. Now our oldest son is also a Eureka Hornet. Everything is cyclical.
Growing up in Ohio I did what any good Ohio farm girl does – I took 4-H (you know the drill – “I pledge my head to clear thinking….”). In between showing sheep at the county fair and sewing jumpers I decided to sign up for a photography project. That summer a little girl from Ohio fell in love with shutter speeds and apertures and the magic of film (and probably took a lot of photos of her 4-H lamb, Freckles). Years later I studied art education at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana with an emphasis on darkroom photography. Even later than that (somewhere between getting a teaching job and adopting our first baby boy) I received my MFA in Fine Art Photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. But that is another adventure for another day.
If you’ve made it this far, I might as well tell you everything. I love pizza, Pearl Jam, sushi, thank you notes, Jesus, Hydrangeas, Autumn, Fountain Coke, miniature things, Magritte, NPR, Kanye, IPA, beaches of all kinds, peace, recycling, and girls’ night. And I am a wicked good basketball dribbler. But you didn’t hear that from me.
**Image above taken by the talented Lauren Rutherford Photography located in Northern Ireland.