I was born in East Germany and worked there for years as a registered nurse. Before the Berlin Wall went up, I fled to the west and started in Berlin again as an RN. I later moved to Zurich and then in 1967 I settled in the U.S., where I continued my nursing career while training as an artist. I began as a student of Viola Frey and Dennis Leon at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, where I developed a special interest in sculpture and ceramics. I continued my education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. I began sculpting in 1981, and discovered my love of photography in 1999 when my son Karsten gave me a camera for my birthday. My portfolio now includes hundreds of sculptures and thousands of photographs.