About the Artist
My greatest influences have come from the places I lived, my family, and the education I was blessed with. I was born in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, Louisiana. In New Orleans the natural world has a very strong presence. In the summer it rains nearly every afternoon and is always muggy because the climate is subtropical. The indoors never seems separate from the outdoors – you learn to share it with the local fire ants, roaches, mosquitoes, spiders, and the occasional lizards. A building left vacant for even a short time is beset by weeds, which eventually crack up even the most carefully lain cement.
Love of art was also instilled from a young age. In the first grade I started private art lessons with a professional illustrator who introduced me to many techniques and materials. I continued the private lessons for five years until switching schools to an arts magnet. This was followed by high school spent at the Fine Arts Center and college at the Kansas City Art Institute. At the Art Institute I earned two degrees, one in Interdisciplinary Arts and a second in Art History. I currently live in Oklahoma, working at the Philbrook Museum of Art and pursuing my own art in the evenings and weekends.
If you have any questions or comments, please drop me a line.
-grace GROTHAUS