In the 7th grade her life took another artistic step when she won a scholarship to take classes at the esteemed Chicago Art Institute. Taking the elevated train by herself to downtown Chicago on Saturday afternoons to learn about art was high adventure and a wonderful introduction into the world of Art. Her artistic abilities led her deeper into the world of art when she attended a high school where she could major in art. But it was there that she foundered. Although she had always been looking for ways to express herself, she was struggling to find the right medium. It was during that time, however, that she felt that she had found her true artistic expression: it was in the world of dance. Unfortunately she was late to that world - most of her fellow students had been dancing since they were small children. She was talented however, and she worked very hard. Lessons were expensive so the ballet school agreed to hire her to do their bookkeeping so she could pay for her classes. Hard work and dedication paid off, and she danced with the Marlene Wishnee Dancers, a contemporary ballet company, for six years.

But dancing hard for six years pushed her body to the limits. After severely injuring her knees, she realized that she needed to give up dancing. Still feeling the need for some type of artistic expression, however, she began taking photography classes at the Columbia School of Photography. It was 1967 and she was the only girl in the class. But she was finding her medium - or at least, one of them.

In 1969 she began her move west. She married and moved to Iowa City, Iowa, where her husband was a student at the University of Iowa Film School. It was in Iowa City that she faced another precipice in her life. She was coming to understand that marriage to man was not the right path for her and she moved into a radical lesbian commune where she was involved in revolutionary politics for the next five years. Her next move, logically enough, was to San Francisco.

Having abandoned art in the previous few years, she once more took up photography. At first taking photos simply for her own enjoyment, she eventually began showing her artwork in some of the San Francisco art festivals. She joined the San Francisco Women Artist Gallery and then joined the National Women Caucus for Art. She began getting into shows, some of them juried by well-known people in the art world, most notably Sandra Brown, who was then a curator for San Francisco MOMA. In the 1980’s she took a class at SF MOMA called “Seeing with Words.” The class met in the Museum and went into the different galleries writing poems inspired by the artwork being displayed there. She had been living a very hectic life. She was still working full time (for the State Bar of California), taking photos, working in her dark room, making appliquéd blankets and now she was writing poetry. She had begun having reactions to the chemicals in the dark room and realized that once more, her body was telling her to make some changes. She began concentrating on her poetry. She was published in some literary journals and published her first book “The Modern Office” with Readfruit Press in Marin County.

Early in 2004, after having moved from San Francisco to Alameda, she got a call from her friend, Bonnie Boller. Bonnie was calling her from the Frank Bette Center for the Arts. Bonnie and Debra Owen (the Center’s new Director) were talking and Debra wanted to have a poetry reading. Bonnie thought Patricia would be the perfect person to put that event together. A meeting was arranged for the next day. Much to Patricia’s surprise, Debra wanted the reading to happen that next week! She wanted it to be a Valentine’s Day event and time was of the essence. Much to her amazement, that first poetry reading had a fairly good crowd show up. It turned out to be the beginning of the now monthly poetry readings held at the Center. Patricia hosted that event for 3 years where she became well-known for her ability to create a welcoming atmosphere for struggling poets to give a voice to their words. When she handed over the hosting reins to Jeanne Lupton, Patricia was then directing the entire literary arts program at the FBCA. She stepped down from that position at the end of 2008.

Spending so much time at the Frank Bette, Patricia was being inspired by the visual art in the ever changing monthly shows. She began submitting the occasional photography work to some of the thematic shows. The high level of her artistry impressed the Center and she was invited to hold a solo show in the “back room” of the Frank Bette. Her show was titled “The Commute” and it coincided with the publication of her second volume of poetry of the same title. There were photographs in the show, of course, and more. Large, rough pieces of concrete decorated the gallery alongside planters from which weeds were sprouting. She had interviewed commuters and their stories were broadcast into the gallery from a tape recording. Large blank pieces of paper adorned the walls around her photos and viewers were encouraged to write down their own commuter experiences. Even the food was thematic: doughnuts and coffee were offered as commuter noshes.

She has gone on to create and curate two more shows for the back room gallery. The first was Vision Revision. Five visual artists and five poets were invited to each show/read five of their works with each artist then showing the five stages of their exhibited works. In September 2009, she was co-curator with Genie Scott and Xtina Solano, for the show “In Memoriam”. Six artists paid tribute to some of the many young women who have suffered at the hands of and then were murdered by angry, out of touch males. It was a very powerful, yet very touching tribute to these young women whose lives were so needlessly cut short. As in her show "The Commute", she published a book of poetry, "Eight Student Nurses and Other Dead Girls" as her contribution, which she presented in a poetry reading.

Patricia has been a contributing artist and tireless volunteer at the Frank Bette Center for the Arts for six years now. When asked why she has been so devoted she will tell you that, aside from the many significant friendships she has made through the Center, the Frank Bette has always encouraged her to push deeper into her creativity. The extraordinary lack of competitiveness she enjoys at the FBCA has helped to create a place for her to flourish and to grow tremendously as an artist. There is no other art organization that has ever come close to offering her the type of support that has been offered her by the Frank Bette Center for the Arts.