At the age of nine, Cara began taking riding lessons and knew, due to the likes of Touch of Class, Big Ben and Abdullah, she wanted to jump. Throughout middle school and high school Cara showed in hunters, eventually finding true love in the jumper ring.

Life with horses seemingly ended when Cara left her hometown of Ft. Wayne IN to study photojournalism at Western Kentucky University. Although she did remarkably well with a camera and earned internships every summer working as a photographer at newspapers throughout the country, the loss of horses was marked.

Solace needed to be found so Cara turned to hip hop. Yes, you read that right. When she wasn't break-dancing, she wrote graffiti in her black book and occasionally on dumpsters and walls. Her love of art wasn't found so much in art museums, but rather on the side of trains. 
After graduating, she spent time in Duluth MN and London before settling in Albuquerque NM. She worked quite a bit in design but could not find comfort in the corporate environment. Eventually a transfer to St. Louis MO reshaped her lifestyle thanks to the 2008 recession.

One of the last unrehabbed lofts in downtown STL became her home. It was full of artists who encouraged her to paint. In 2011 Cara created her first painting, a 6'x6' of two horses embracing. The only work she could find was as a carriage driver which reunited her with horses and reignited the passion that had been dormant for far too long.

The horses in Cara's oil paintings have exceptionally long legs, reflecting their fragility and the fragility of life. Her work is highly textured and layered, done almost entirely with a pallet knife. 

Today Cara and her husband, Tom York, share magical days on a small farm in Highland IL in their 1861 farmhouse. Their life is rich with two warmblood mares, a mini horse, two border collies, cats, ducks and geese and chores that simply don't end. 

They have recently renovated a historic building in downtown Vandalia IL that serves as a secondary studio for large scale works. 

2026 Artist Gallery Wellington International WEF (Wellington FL)

2026, 2025 VIP Artist Adequan Global Dressage Festival (Wellington FL USA)

2026, 2025, 2024 VIP Artist Live Oak International (Ocala FL USA)

2024 Be Kind, Marion Cultural Alliance (Ocala FL USA)

2024 Permanent Collection, FEI Headquarters (Lausanne CH)

2024 Exhibiting Artist, Dutch Equine Art Fair (Amsterdam NL)

2024 Artist in Residence, Jupiterfab (Guadalajara MX)

2024 Horse Shaped World, Angad Arts Hotel (St Louis MO USA)

2023 Artist Gallery, Royal Winter Fair (Toronto CA)

2023, 2022, 2021 Artist Gallery, The Hampton Classic (Southampton NY USA)

2022 Long Legs and Fragility, Ocala City Hall (Ocala FL USA)

2022 Artist in Residence, Casa Lu Sur (Mexico City MX)

2021 Horses with Long Legs, Marion Cultural Alliance (Ocala FL USA)

PENROD ARTS FAIR  Indianapolis, IN 2021

HAMPTON CLASSIC, Bridgehampton, NY 2021

DES MOINES ART FESTIVAL  Des Moines, IA 2021

GENEVA ARTS FAIR  Geneva, IL  2021, 2019

MT. DORA ARTS FESTIVAL  Mt. Dora FL 2021, 2020

LIVE OAK INTERNATIONAL  Ocala, FL 2020

ST JAMES COURT ART FAIR  Louisville, KY 2019

ART ALIVE  Edwardsville, IL 2019

EDWARDSVILLE ART CENTER Holiday Art Show 2016

TRADE-ARAMA ART CENTER Brevard, NC 2017-2018