Alyssa grew up in both France and the United States. She received a bachelor’s degree in art from Taylor University and also studied drawing and painting in France and Italy. She received her MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art in 2015. Life then took a rather unexpected detour and painting was put to the side because of a chemical sensitivity. She worked on organic farms in South Carolina, New York and then Northern Michigan. Experiencing the natural world, the seasons and weather in such a close way shifted her work significantly when she returned to painting. She now lives and works in Traverse City.