Kathleen grew up on a farm on the Manitoba prairies. She began piano lessons in Winnipeg at the age of nine and still recalls the thrill of composing short four part works in Harmony classes. Dance lessons also began early and at age twelve she had the fortune to be asked to dance with a group of young dancers in a Royal Winnipeg Ballet production. This solid dance training would creep back into her life many years later.

She was always busy with her hands, creating , experimenting and improvising making pictures from dyed seeds, constructing miniature twig furniture and modeling animals from dried white glue.

Risk taking has been central to her life: In high school, she and a friend were the first females to take industrial arts; she was the first female hired as a grounds keeper at a golf club; in her late 30's she began working collaboratively with a weaver and quilter creating multi media pieces of art; at age 39 she went back to high school to take welding; at 45 took up scuba diving and now has her advanced open water certificate; in her late 40's she has taken up Liturgical Dance, yoga, Tai Chi and drumming.

Kathleen attended the University of Manitoba and graduated with a degree in Human Ecology.  She went on to work in the Early Childhood Education Field directing a child care center, teaching at the college level and licensing programs for the Manitoba government. Kathleen pursued a Movement for Young Children certificate from the University of Manitoba and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet which melded with her academic career.

When Kathleen started a family she began working as a self taught visual artist doing stained glass. Her visual arts career has grown to include making lamp worked glass beads, sandblasted glass, copper jewellery and papier mache pieces.

Kathleen feels quite at home in Thunder Bay surrounded by boreal forests, exposed Canadian Shield and the many lakes of Northern Ontario. That landscape has crept into both her visual arts and dance work. 

Kathleen works with students in the schools with the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Learning Through the Arts program as well as with the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project.

When Kathleen isn’t dancing or making art she is doing yoga, scuba diving, cross country skiing, kayaking, traveling, or cooking and eating ethnic foods.