Vickie L. Elkan hails from Wisconsin where she was born in 1950. She lived in the country next to her cousin's dairy farm which gave her many wonderful and exciting sights. The baby pigs with rosy, flesh tone colors; cornfields of pale yellows and blue green hues, lush green hills dotted with patches of violets and purples from the sweet clover. All these inspired Vickie to become an artist despite the onslaught of rheumatoid arthritis at the early age of eight.

In 1968, she pursued a degree in Graphic Arts at Cal-State Fullerton University. After two years she got married and motherhood took precedence. She returned to art in the late 1980's when she finally graduated and found work teaching many age levels. Vickie exhibited her work at the Art-A-Fair festival where she also served on the board; this is one of the three well-known summer art shows in Laguna Beach.

Vickie, who towers over almost no one and ignores the corny humor like, "How's the weather down there?" She stands tall among her colleagues, collectors and even her critics at 4 foot 9 inches. As an art major for twenty years past, but only serious for the last five, she has evoked claims such as "The Andy Warhol of the West," and has been recently described as having "an unnatural versatility as an artist with uncommon natural abilities." She produces extraordinarily colorful, two dimensional peanut butter jars and Quaker Oats containers from their quite mundane, 3 dimensional counter parts.

This highly domesticated, Mission Viejo housewife and mother is not at all confined to the kitchen. She is just as commanding on the basketball court when she wields her paint brush, and has a commission from a local doctor to capture a size 17 Larker's tennis shoe for his personal collection. Some of her most notable works are the plastic encased, pastel hued, paper sculptures that were exhibited at the "Graphics Gallery" in Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel, "On The Wall" in Santa Ana, as well as local professional and medical offices. Her graphite and ink drawings demonstrate amazing depth and realism. Her most recent style strays from the definable with abstract, neon-accented collages.

She currently serves on the Orange County VSA Advisory Committee. She enjoys giving regular demos during the VSA festivals and Imagination Celebration, presented by the Orange County Performing Arts Center and Department of Education.

Vickie says, "I've always tried to do my best and never allowed life's little setbacks to get in my way. Life is precious and all its wonderful works are like a colorful picture waiting to be painted. We just have to stop and look. Teaching has let me come to a full circle for it has allowed me to teach my students these lessons. It has also given me the opportunity to share all those beautiful and exciting childhood memories in Wisconsin."