About the artist: telling her story

Cara’s artist journey began in childhood. Her first time being inspired by art came from her grandmother. She was an artist and always encouraged creativity and expressing oneself through art. From then, Cara built a dream of becoming a professional artist.

Making art for a living was not fully supported by her friends and family. She came from practical, stable parents. However, her spirit always wanted to be free and creative. Her dream stayed with her throughout her childhood and adolescence and lived alongside her life of sports and friendships. Sketching and drawing was her outlet and became a sacred pastime. When it was time to choose a path after high school, she wanted to create the life she had always wanted by immersing herself into a city that had art all around, and 3,000 miles away;New York City. She attended a small liberal arts college freshmen year of college, hoping to pursue education in art and to build a life in New York.  To her disappointment, the school was not what she was looking for to grow as an artist and as a person. She moved back home to Sacramento to figure out her next path. Working at a coffee shop and living with her parents, her dream to be in New York never went away. She returned to New York City. From there, she continued making art and worked full time in a restaurant. She made drawings for friends, and designed t-shirts for coworkers. She knew New York was where she wanted to be to help her artistic journey thrive.

Cara started her motherhood journey at age 19. Motherhood is another journey, full of lessons, joy, and growth. Juggling motherhood and making art was a way that allowed Cara’s creativity and dreams to grow in many different paths.

Cara made the choice to move back home to Sacramento, CA to be closer to family as the birth of her daughter was approaching.

Family was the forefront of all life choices. She explored other professions that would provide more financial security like hairstyling, which satisfied her creativity temporarily but still wanted more growth in her artistic abilities. She committed to going back to school full time and graduated with a BA in art studio and minor in education from UC Davis. She grew as an artist, exploring in all mediums and developed a voice and style. Still doing hair on the side, she wanted more stability for her and her daughter, then 5,  so she left a craft she enjoyed for a job with garaunteed health benefits.

In 2016 she became a classroom teacher. Her goal was to teach art at every level, but started with fundamentals of learning classroom teaching techniques and management. She currently is teaching middle school art.

Life is ever-changing. We grow, move, grow, then move again. Pivots are necessary in order to grow to your full potential.