Connie was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin; a small town between Milwaukee and Chicago. She received an MFA in Printmaking from Ohio University in 2005 and a BA in Painting from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 1996. She also has attended two study abroad programs, in Italy and in England, and has since traveled to Mexico and Ireland.

Since receiving her MFA, she has taught courses in Drawing, Computer Art, and Printmaking at Bloomsburg University, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and Anchor Graphics/Columbia College. This year, she has a one-year appointment at Ohio University. Her work has been included in both juried and invitational exhibitions nationally and internationally and has won prizes in national printmaking competitions. Her work is featured in many permanent collections such as the Racine Art Museum, Derby Fine Arts, Ltd., the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, and the National Small Print Collection at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She also just finished a month-long residency at the Vermont Studio Center and serves as an elected officer for the Mid-America Print Council.

Statement

My excitement lies in traveling and discovering natural phenomenon that I have not experienced before. Through the exploration of nature and place, I find a great deal of similarities and differences in both texture and color. Organic shapes and tonal structures transform these realities into obscured identities through the abstraction and enlarging of the surfaces I examine.

The work begins with photographic representations and observational notes of what I find and then is transformed through printmaking and drawing processes to make images that become an emotional response to the place being depicted. Process guides what the image needs in order to successfully present my response to the natural phenomenon being exposed. These places are taken out of their context and become both what I want the viewer to experience and what my own memories and responses are to them. The identification of each piece is based on how I portray them and how the viewers search their memories of experiences and places to bring themselves to form their own discoveries.