“I am proud to be Third generation Sacramentan. Raised in Land Park, I grew up in a creative family. My Mother was a professional Artist and I realize now how unusual it was that she would let us use anything she had, her best brush or pencil cheerfully handed over to a seven year old with sticky fingers. Just across Land Park, I found such teachers as Laureen Landau, Greg Kondos, and Fred Dalkey in the supportive environment at Sacramento City College. Laureen Landau had a great influence on me and helped me navigate college with my learning disabilities. I remain passionate about art education as a fundamental part of any education. I attended Milwaukee Institute of Art and design and benefited from their difficult, but excellent drawing program. While living in San Francisco I studied Illustration at the San Francisco Institute of Art and Design. Back in Sacramento I also studied painting at UC Davis with Professor Wayne Thiebaud. Although my background is in classical Fine Arts I fell hard for computers as they helped to level the playing field with my Dyslexia. I was one of the first students in the Computer Animation for Film and Television program at The San Francisco Institute of Art and Design. I feel the computer is just another paintbrush – a wonderful tool for artist, and not exclusive from true Fine Art.” -Victoria Smith