Winging It: Navigating a Creative Life Together

Michele and Steve Vaughan have stitched together more than three decades of marriage, art, and adventure. Michele is a restless creator, following her curiosity into quilting, mixed media, painting, photography, and more while Steve has remained nested in his lifelong passions as a naturalist and photographer. Through their presentation, they share stories of two creative journeys—vastly different in approach yet deeply connected—woven together by partnership, curiosity, and a need to create.

Speaker Bios

Michele Vaughan

Curiosity is the thread that is woven through every part of Michele Vaughan’s life—her work in technology, her adventures as an entrepreneur, and her passion for making. It has carried her through careers in technology, entrepreneurial ventures in teaching art and yoga, and creative pursuits in photography and quilting—and continues to fuel her restless creativity. From fabric to paper, megapixels to bytes, making to teaching, Michele is driven by curiosity to keep exploring. For her, art is less about arriving at mastery than about discovering what’s possible when she tries something new.

Stephen Vaughan

Consistency has defined Steve Vaughan’s life as a naturalist and nature photographer. For more than fifty years, he has devoted himself to observing, studying, and photographing the natural world, with his images appearing in National Geographic, Audubon, National Wildlife, Sierra Club, and Arizona Highways. He is especially known for his passion for eagles, hawks and owls and for mentoring others to look more closely at the life around them. For Steve, creativity is rooted in focus, patience, and the enduring joy of bearing witness.

Michele’s restless curiosity and Steve’s steady devotion have created a shared life of art, nature, and adventure. Side by side, they show that creativity can take many forms—sometimes sewn together, sometimes flown apart, but always deeply connected.