C. was born in New Jersey near New York City. C began making art and traveling when young, first to the Caribbean, U.K. and Europe, including a tour of the U.S.S.R. with a group of American artists, sponsored by Yale University. It was the first time that U.S. artists were allowed to travel in the former Soviet Union.

Eventually C. would travel to more than 40 countries, making art & teaching in the Turks and Caicos, China & Indonesia.