M. Tree Batik

I call myself a Southern blueblood, Appalachian Hillbilly homesteading hippie chic. Raised in Cullowhee by the Tuckaseegee River on The Thomas Berry Farm, I have an identical twin. She is likewise very talented. I now live beside the Tuck in Dillsboro. As a young woman, I moved to Boone, where I have lived for 25 years. Leaving ASU early, I lived on the mountain and homesteaded as had my mother’s family. I then began my art career.
After several years I returned to Cullowhee and attended SCC, where I earned my assocate’s degree with honors in Commercial art and graphic design. As a student, and for eight years following, I worked with a regional journal, “Katuah, Bioregional Journal of the Southern Appalachians”.
I then returned to Boone and worked in the field at The Mountain Times, I became the Art Director there. Awarded the NC State Press Association award for the “Best of Show”, I continued with the paper for 12 years, as well as running my own graphic arts and fine arts business. In 1998 I was in a disabling accident, and returned to live with my father in Cullowhee. I continued my education, being awarded my BSW with honors in Social Work.
Having graduated at the age of 55, at the beginning of the Great Recession, I could not find a job in my field regionally. Determined to live near to my father in his old age, I restarted my art career.
I have shown work in the Chapel Hill/Durham area. Likewise I have shown in Atlanta and all along the Appalachian range.
One of my favorite sayings is “Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are” by Franklin D. Roosevelt.
I am honored to be a member of the Dogwood Cooperative Crafts Gallery.