The focus of Kest’s work for nearly 3 decades as a working artist has been in the natural science and botanical world and in that time, she has made over 30 books, 20 calendars, innumerable images for magazines and other publications, including a 100-page fantasy graphic novel. Kest has additional experience in creating designs for licensed, manufactured products and packaging such as wallpaper, greeting cards, labels, posters, educational games, and more. Kest’s work spans markets as well as genres, and her work is as fluid in the educational and technical sciences, as it is in historical fiction or sci-fi.  Some publishers/ companies include: Yankee Publishing Co., National Geographic, The Earth Day Poster for the US State Dept., US National Parks, Picture-Window Books, Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt, Llewellyn, McGraw Hill, Scholastic, and many more. Kest has her MFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). She earned her undergraduate degree from York College of Pennsylvania with an emphasis on Botany, and was a professor of Illustration and Drawing courses there for nearly 9 years. More recently, Kest has turned her attention to the pictorial space of bas relief and clay. A long-time practitioner of sculpture and 3-D work, Kest is now seeking to license her botanical designs and offer original tile work to commissioning clients and buyers.