Teri grew up on her family's cattle ranch in Western South Dakota. She has spent her life working with her dad's herd of Hereford cattle horseback in all weather conditions in all seasons. She also learned to train and work with horses closely, and for many years her ranch horses have been ones that she has done all the training with herself.
Teri had a love of artwork from an early age, and as her mom is also an artist she provided Teri with the tools and materials she needed to create, allowing her the freedom to do so. Teri’s first love was painting horses in acrylic, followed by drawing graphite pencil portraits, and making sculptures out of clay. She enjoys various aspects of two dimensional wet and dry mediums, and three dimensional media, and could never choose just one.
From an early age Teri knew she wanted to try to be a professional artist, she took art classes throughout high school, then attended Black Hills State University in Spearfish, South Dakota. Thanks to a favorite professor, whose artwork she had admired in local galleries, she picked up a love of watercolor.
In 2007 Teri graduated magna cum laude, earning a Bachelor of Art in Fine Art, then continued classes and in 2009 earned another BA in English. From that time on Teri began looking for ways to show and sell her work. From displaying in local restaurants and coffee houses, to finding local shows and craft fairs to enter, Teri found an audience. She has since sold many originals across the country, and even around the world.
Some of Teri’s pieces have traveled overseas to Europe. She has illustrated three children's books in an ongoing series about Husker the Mule (written but Codi Vallery Mills), and one Pony Tracks book by the late Mel Anderson “Saints & Sinners” that is a collection of current and historical short stories.
Currently Teri is running the family ranch, still training horses, and continuing to raise Hereford cattle from the lines her dad built, while trying to find time for her artwork in between, when the cattle allow for it! Teri continues to attend many different shows throughout South Dakota, and in surrounding states.
Teri’s artwork has also been featured in publications, on the covers of magazines such as Today’s Horse and Cattle Business Weekly, and she has received numerous Best of Show, Best of Class, and People’s Choice Awards in the various art shows she attends. Most recently, one of Teri’s‘s original pieces of work, a colored pencil drawing of an American bison from Custer State Park entitled “Endurance“ was purchased by the state of South Dakota in the Art For State Buildings program. This piece was one of only 13 chosen from over 350 submissions by 62 South Dakota artists.