Kristina was born and raised in Buffalo New York where she earned her BA in Communication Design from the University at Buffalo.  After briefly working as a graphic designer she decided to follow her heart and get her Masters in Art Education from Boston University.  She had always loved art since she could remember and decided that teaching was her calling.  

In 2008, she packed up and moved to Northern Virginia to follow her heart and become a high school art teacher.  She loved working with students and teaching them what there was to love about art.  If students left her class with an appreciation of art, she knew she had done her job.  Seeing the joy on a students faces when they made something that they never thought they could is what keeps her going.  

A few years into teaching, she started a new class, Art Journaling, where students combined art and creative writing and everything they made was in their own handmade art journaling.  Students loved this new class.  The freedom of self expression and the art experimentation kept them coming back.  Art journaling is so important to the social and emotional health of teenagers. The class has become a form of therapy for many of her students who tell her that this class was the reason they came to school everyday.  

In her spare time, Kristina is a mixed media artist-  Dabbling in just about everything.  She loves to collect old papers, vintage books and various fodder for use in her own art.  She also loves collecting new art supplies to try out, swatching watercolors, learning new mixed media techniques and creating custom papers to use in her artwork.