Katie Runnels is a mixed media artist and designer originally from Fayetteville, Ark.  She received her M.F.A. in painting from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 2004. She has studied art and art history in Rome and Lacoste, France, through the University of Arkansas and SCAD, respectively.rnThrough SCAD’s generosity, Runnel’s artwork has exhibited internationally, most notably at the Mona Bismark Foundation in Paris in 2004. In Fall 2003, She and friend Amy Zurcher created shopSCAD, where she served as art director until September 2006. In this role RUnnels was responsible for the interior design and decoration of shopSCAD and shopSCAD, Atlanta. In addition, she proposed the original design concept for shopscadonline.com, curated fine art submissions, styled Website photography, and created artwork and design concepts for shopSCAD’s promotional materials. Her home and design ideas were featured in the November 2006 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. rnShe has relocated her studio to an early 1900s storefront on Main Street in quaint Newberry, S.C. She and fiancé Jon Graf are preparing for a fall wedding in Columbia, S.C. Her paintings and other artwork remain available in Georgia exclusively at shopSCAD. “My love of arts and crafts began with my mother’s example as a painter and creative homemaker. The various handicrafts of my grandmothers and aunts, not always appreciated while growing up, are now some of my most beloved treasures. I work in several different media including paint, textiles, found-object sculpture, ceramics and collage, much the same as the women in my family before me.”