Ever since I can remember, I’ve had two loves; art and history. It’s interesting how our passions manifest themselves later in our lives. For me, it was to attend art school – The Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, Alberta. After four years in that environment, where weaving and textile design was my chosen major, I came out of school wondering what I would do next. I set up a business where I created handwoven clothing for several stores in Calgary, Cochrane, and Banff.

As any artist will tell you, it helps to have a ‘day job’ and I did, working in hotel management for several years. Eventually, I decided a more pragmatic use of my textile background was in order and I took the University of Alberta’s Residential Interiors Certificate program while I worked at the Four Seasons.

Finally, I made a big leap towards having my own design business. I called it “From Times Past,” hence the name of this website, and rented a retail location in a small upscale strip mall in my city. This morphed from specializing in heritage home design to adding antiques to sell. For thirteen years, I held classes on several topics in the store, all with the idea of sharing my love for history, art and design.

In 2007, I closed my retail store and began teaching for the University’s Extension program in Residential Interiors – the very program where I had once been a student. In addition, I began to teach in the Fine Arts certificate program on the history and the business of art.

During that time, I, with partial funding from the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation, wrote a book called ‘Historical Interiors of Alberta – A Guide to Restoring and Decorating your Heritage Home.’ I loved being involved in the historic preservation movement in our city and spoke on the topic for many groups. It didn’t hurt that my husband and I lived in a 1912 Four Square house either because I had to practice what I preached! 😊

After the closure of my store, I continued to be involved in the industry by providing antique appraisals. My continued fascination with the history surrounding old objects became the overlying premise in the novels I began to write.

As though in full circle, I have returned to my art and have found a new passion in learning about working with pastels and teaching drawing.

On a personal note, I have been married to my husband Ted for 35 years and we have a four-legged daughter named Tessa.