Born in Sonoma County, CA, and reared in the Chicago area, Factor received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of the Arts (CCA) in 1997 and her Masters of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 2001. After teaching at a number of different institutions, including the University of California at Berkeley and the Oxbow School in Napa, CA, she now teaches part-time for the School of Art + Design at Portland State University. In addition to teaching painting and drawing courses, Factor leads study abroad courses to Berlin, Germany where she exposes students to the contemporary art world there.
In her work, Factor focuses on the discrepancies between the concrete, objectively perceived elements of our surroundings and the less tangible, intuitively accessed realities of place. Her work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions from Oregon to Denmark, Chicago to Tasmania, and exhibited in such notable venues as the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (Sonoma, CA), Berkeley Art Museum, Richmond Art Center (Richmond, CA), Oliver Art Center (CCA, Oakland), Southern Exposure (SF), Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland), Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery, (Ogden, UT), Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, Torrance Art Museum, Disjecta (Portland), and the Schneider Museum of Art (Ashland, OR). A solo show of Factor’s new work will open at Oranj Gallery in Portland, July 2018.
Factor has been featured in art magazines and on-line publications including Bear Deluxe, Stretcher, Artweek, New American Paintings, NAU NUA (Spain), art ltd., Polonium no.3 Work, and in No Place, a catalog of work made possible by a Regional Arts and Culture Council (RACC) Professional Development Grant.