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About me and my experiences:
I hold a Bachelors in Fine Art and Communication Arts from UW-Madison with concentrations in graphic design, printmaking, painting, & film, which gives me a creative edge. During my time as an undergraduate, I worked at the UW's premier arts & literature magazine, "Illumination," as the Layout Editor, Designer, and Webmaster. As well, I interned at UW-Extension's Environmental Resources Center, which later turned into a permanent position as soon as I graduated. They didn't want to let me go! Now I freelance as Rara-Avis Design. I regularly work with other artists, musicians, filmmakers, and non-profits in the Madison area on various design projects. Most of projects involve DIY packaging, design, promotion, event filming, silkscreen fine art, and website development. I hope my portfolio says the rest.

ANOTHER ONE OF MY OBSESSIONS ... GREEN LIVING.

This website and all of my design projects are made with sustainability and the larger environment in mind.

• PAPER AND INK: I use New Leaf paper (now available at any Kinkos) or 100% post consumer waste products. EnviroLine, water-based screen printing inks go into my silkscreens. My business brochures and cards are printed at Greener Printer, which uses soy-based inks and is wind-powered.
• RE-USE EWASTE: I believe in the "Re-use" part of the Recycling triangle. 80% of the electronic equipment that runs my business is cautiously bought used or personally repaired eWaste. If I cannot repair it myself, it gets recycled through certified environment-friendly eWaste recycling companies. Or they could make great craft projects, like this from WebUrbanists. Unfortunarely, I didn't construct any of these art pieces, but a friend of mine knows Dr. Evermore out in Baraboo, WI. They composed an album "LIVE at Forevertron." Check them out here: Fury161/HotPickle.
• TRANSPORTATION: Finally, I drive a shared hybrid from Community Car for all my business needs and meetings.
• WISH LIST: Laugh all you want, but my next big investment (along with that pretty Nikon D300 DSLR) is a composting toilet. This is quite a controversial issue it turns out, as some think it's nothing more than an outhouse. However after observing the havoc sewage does to lakes and water tables in this area, I hope this becomes more of a household practice.

I have taken THE designers' PLEDGE.
How about you?

CERTIFICATION / TRAINING:

• Certified in Web Design from Depart. of Information Technology (DoIT) at UW-Madison.
• DoIT Training Classes in CSS, XHTML, PHP, Flash, and Adobe CS Software.
• In-Training: CIW Professional Website Manager

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS / MEMBERSHIPS / RESOURCES:

• Greater Wealth Productions
• Environmental Resources Center at UW-Extension
• AIGA, Coroflot
• Graphic Artists Guild
• Web Design & Developers Association
• Web Standards Group
• Freelance Designers
• International Webmaster Association/HTML Writers' Guild
• Wisconsin Film Festival
• Dane Buy Local
• Sustain Dane
• Design Can Change Pledge
• Greener Printers
• Community Car
• WI Independent Artists Music Project
• Filmmaking.net
• ArtYears
• Film Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Film School
• Independent Film Project - Chicago
• The Independent Magazine (last vestige of the Association of Independent Video & Filmmakers)
• Independent Filmmakers Guild - Wisconsin
• Independent Filmmakers Alliance

Contact me at the email on the edge of the cloud:
We'll talk shop. I'll make transitioning to the web as painless as possible. Or if you need to update an old, outdated site, we can talk about how to give it a clean, accessible new design. Or let me know about any art/film/music projects you need help with, and we can collaborate.
find out why it's a good idea to hire me.