As a child, Spencer spent her summers with her family sailing around Lake George, NY, picking berries, camping, fishing, and bird watching. She remembers fondly, “I have always been in love with the natural world. Those magical experiences have shaped who I am and how I express myself through art.”
Spencer is a self-taught woodblock artist and a fly-fishing guide. “I use woodblock to challenge me and my thought process.” She finds that as she carves the wood, she continually reminds herself, “to soften the edges and dark areas, not to draw in every detail. Sometimes it is what you don’t carve or call attention to that has the greatest impact. A lesson in life and how I want to live.”
Spencer’s work comes from an old tradition that she deliberately chooses, “I avoid the overt use of modern technology by carving, pressing, and printing in the old- fashioned method…by hand.” She uses oil-based inks and prints onto archival Japanese paper for her black and white images and archival watercolor paper with watercolor paint for her colored images.
Currently, Spencer resides with husband and 7-year-old twins on the banks of the Salmon River in Idaho. She and her family live off grid where they have built a sustainable straw-bale home. They maintain bees, a garden that feeds the family, and pure joy for their surroundings.