David N. Giles, Illustrator:

About David:
David Giles trained first as an artist and served as medical and technical illustrator for the US Army at Tacoma, Washington and Heidelberg, Germany during the Vietnam war. He later earned a Graphic Design Certificate at University of California, Davis.

Giles' paintings reflect his lifetime study of northern California history and geography. His oils are moderately impressionistic and, like his watercolors, flow with light. Samples of his work are reproduced in greeting cards which have received international acclaim.

From 1969-1991, Giles worked for Department of Social Services and survived the stress by creating distinctive cartoons. In 1989, after contributing illustrations for Marjorie's history book he and Marjorie formed the Inkwell partnership and subsequently married.

After several years of substitute teaching, Giles realized he had found his true calling and entered graduate school in 1998 to obtain a full multiple subject teaching credential. He teaches Social Studies at a remote
K-12 gold country school alongside the Yuba River at Downieville, CA

Marjorie B. Giles, Author:

About Marjorie:
Marjorie Giles studied piano as a child, biology as a teenager, and creative writing as an elder. While working as Research Associate in the emerging discipline of biophysics at Yale University, Marjorie contracted polio, pregnant with her second child at the time. She spent two years in recovery then went back to work in virology at UC Berkeley, a single mom using a wheelchair. She retired from science upon the birth of her third child and began writing, eventually returning to school for an English degree in creative writing.

As activists, Marjorie and David founded a non-profit organization, Enabled Artists United, to insure access for all at educational, performance and exhibition venues.

Marjorie is author of Changes in Harmony and Gold Rivers of Northern California and is editor of Under the Plum Tree: The Tao of Everything by Chung Fu, a spiritual guide who answers questions about everything. Marjorie has four novels in progress, excerpts of which have appeared in literary magazines. Her essay, "Pelican," took 2nd place in the 1996 Writer's Digest Competition

The Giles family lives in northern California and includes four children and five grandchildren. The senior members credit their successes to a practice of plain living, high thinking and star-gazing. Their lives and work focus on evolving consciousness.