Pat immigrated to Canada from Liverpool when she was a few months old. She grew up in Vancouver and spent many hours in the parks and woods of the city. Her mother encouraged an early love and appreciation for both the natural world and for painting: she remembers watching her mother paint and soon found herself enrolled in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s “Painting in the Parks” program in the 1950s. She took painting and arts classes throughout her early and high school education, and she feels lucky to have been taught and inspired by many Art teacher specialists along the way. Pat attended the University of British Columbia, majoring in graphics and design, and graduated with a Bachelors of Education degree specializing in the visual arts.
After teaching in Coquitlam and in Vancouver she turned to raising, with her husband Peter, three children: Katie, Chris, and Tim. She was – and remains - passionate about Art Education and served as Director and Chairperson of the BC Arts in Education Council, an advocacy group promoting the importance of Art education for the children of British Columbia.
In 1999 Pat returned to the classroom for a few years, teaching ceramics. She became a member of the Aberthau Pottery Club and participated in its shows and sales. Pat has always incorporated different mediums into her work, but photographing rock images has been an especially vital and consistent part of her creative process. In 2003 she was one of three women in a show called “Close Encounters with Nature” at the Covan Art Gallery in Vancouver. Her photographs showcased newly-revealed characters created out of the West Coast’s rocky beaches and hillsides.
Though still photographing and collecting new rock images, Pat has for the past few years turned her energy to painting - her first love. After moving to Victoria with her husband in 2008, she is happily engrossed in her home studio producing work inspired by her intriguing rock encounters.