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Biography

Allison has spent almost her entire life on California's beautiful Central Coast, spending her early childhood in Templeton before moving to San Luis Obispo, where she graduated from high school in 2001.  Having completed her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at UCSB, she is currently working towards her Ph.D. in Environmental Science at the Donald Bren School.

Throughout childhood, Allison's parents (Karen and Bill) spent nearly every vacation taking her and their two sons, Scott and Dylan, on camping and backpacking trips throughout the wilderness of the western states.  When not on month-long road trips and hiking excursions, exploring the creeks, beaches and foothills of SLO county made for adventure enough.  Having spent so much time in National Parks and Monuments, particularly the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains, Allison acquired a great sense of respect for nature at a young age.  To this day, the conservation of open space and natural wilderness areas remains one of her greatest concerns.

Allison's attachment to the environment is evident in her artwork, which focuses predominantly on California's wide-ranging landscape.  Her interest in oil painting began at age 14, when her parents bought her an oil set for Christmas.  Since, she has produced hundreds of plein air and studio landscapes and sketches.  While at first her scientific background and love of painting may seem to contradict eachother, she insists that they are actually very complementary fields - both allow her to study changes in the environment and assess how human activity has affected it.   Viewing nature from both scientific and artistic perspectives has greatly increased Allison's concern for environmental processes and has, in turn, improved her work as both an artist and researcher.

Allison currently lives in Santa Barbara, CA, with her silly dog Mattie Mae and two bearded dragons, Dante and Oy.  She is a member of the Goleta Valley Art Association, the Santa Barbara Art Association, and Southern California Artists Painting for the Environment (SCAPE).  Her artwork can be see at the Dianna Bottoms Fine Art Gallery in downtown Santa Barbara.