Ginger Craven comes from generations of artisans: fine art painters, commercial artists, graphic designers, wood carvers as well as fine china and porcelain painters. She started painting at an young age, encouraged by her mother and her aunts, Genevieve and Loretta, both of whom owned galleries and were artists themselves.

Ginger has worked in oils, inks, water color, acrylics and now pastels. Early in her career, she painted wall murals. She did commissioned works for community centers, dance clubs, offices and other public and private places including whimsical children's rooms and playrooms, dining rooms bathrooms and foyers. She holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree from the University of St Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota and has been active as a docent at the

Walker Modern Art Center in Minneapolis.

In the 1990's she studied pastel with the late Irving Boker at the Von Liebig Art Center in Naples. It was her first experience with the soft pastel medium and she quickly saw the beauty and forgive-ability of those pretty little sticks. Since that time she has studied with many other great pastelists: Robert Carsten, Anna Louise West, Doug Dawson, Susan Sarback, Fred Somers, Doug Flint, Terry Ludwig, Elizabeth Mowry, Richard McKinley and others, both here and abroad.

She studied in Giverny, France, with the late Gale Bennett and painted in Monet's Gardens while there.

Ginger is a Past President of the SouthWest Florida Pastel Society and is a Charter member.