Originally from a small agricultural community in Northern California, Marissa has traveled widely and lived for several years in western Ukraine. Always drawing as a child, she continues to create with joy and commitment. After earning a graduate degree in Fine Art and Teaching, she discovered the medium of encaustic. Its molten quality and mysterious effects were a good fit for what she hungered for in her work because it not only pushed against her desire for precision, it also opened up pathways for creative inquiry. Marissa uses her grid-like thought process and the liquid quality of the beeswax to create images with psychological meaning and depth. Marissa resides in Chicagoland with her young family and is an adjunct professor of Art at Wheaton College.