CATE ROBERTSON earned  BS and MLA degrees from the University of Michigan. She moved to San Diego in 1982, becoming a land planner and landscape architect . In 1991, she began studying theatrical set design at UCSD and established a second career as a design assistant. Over the next decade, she collaborated on regional and Broadway productions as an assistant to several top set designers. Scenic painting projects brought her back, full-circle, to her artistic roots.  Since 2003, she has studied painting under the tutelage of artist Olya Losina.