Represented in museums and galleries in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, the native North Carolinian moved to Asheville after art school in Seattle in 1985. Living in Switzerland in 1992, she became a Swiss citizen and stayed until 1997, until Asheville called her back again for close to another decade, working summer artist residencies in Switzerland in between before settling back in Europe where her allegorical figurative paintings and mixed media sculptures became the mainstay of her exhibitions there.“My art comes from my personal life, reflected by lore, stories and myths. It is grounded in my heritage and in my past,” Teal explains. “As with many present day artists, I am engaging in conversation with the natural world: what we have done to our climate, our creatures and ourselves. The conversation also speaks to innocence, and more particularly, the moments we lose or have lost our connections with the natural world. I want to breach the gap between life and art by raising appreciation and awareness of our earth and real world issues.”