Krista graduated in 1994 from The Pennsylvania State University with a BA focusing on painting and biology. She then studies for two years at an atelier, The Schuler School of Fine Arts, in Baltimore, MD. In 1998, she earned her MA from the Johns Hopkins University in Medical and Biological Illustration. After establishing herself as a medical illustrator, she returned to painting and studied with painters at The Art League School in Alexandria, VA and completed a yearlong apprenticeship with portrait and landscape painter, Edward Reed. In 2007 she moved to Charlottesville, VA and began showing her work in Virginia and Washington, DC. Her work has entered many private and public collections including the University of Virginia Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System, Dominion energy, Martha Jefferson Hospital, The Country Club of Virginia, and more.