She earned a BFA degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has 36 years of experience teaching studio art and art history. Pat studied encaustic painting with Tremain Smith in 2006 and Paula Roland in 2009. Pat Spainhour was recently presented with the Innovation Award at the Fire on the Mountain gallery show for a collaborative sculpture combining her encaustic work on paper and an iron support created by her husband, Paul Spainhour.