Natalie grew up thinking she would be an attorney like her dad. Her maternal grandfather was a municipal judge and had been a labor organizer, even running for Congress. Their dinner conversation often centered around politics. The summer after high school, she spent with a group touring Israel, including time living on a kibbutz picking olives. In college at the University of Wisconsin, Natalie majored in sociology, and spent many nights discussing philosophy with her friends. Her college part-time employment was typing the translation from Aramaic to English of a portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls for Professor Menachem Mansoor, what she came to realize was a rare privilege. During this time and going forward, she demonstrated for civil rights, and became involved in the campaign for Scoop Jackson, the first of many political campaigns she volunteered with.
Natalie's art career began by selling hand-knit sweaters. At age 49, she took a floorcloth class through the University of Wisconsin Extension and fell in love with the idea of walking on art. Her husband Marty, an educator and author, attended art shows and collected art for many years before they decided to become street show artists with floorcloths. As a team, with Natalie painting and Marty prepping canvas and show set-up and take-down, they have spent thirty plus years in the “art world”. From floorcloths and wallcloths, Natalie took a detour to also creating jewelry about fifteen years ago.
As her life's journey continues, Natalie took 2020 to go back to painting, this time in the form of assemblage paintings. She wants to impact her audience by using bright colors to encourage her audience to feel one’s home is a place of positive thoughts and comfort, particularly in this time of a worldwide pandemic and political chaos. Natalie wants these new paintings to continue the theme of life as a continuous journey of pathways and choices, and to encourage people to look for good choices for themselves.