Barbara Forshag grew up in New Orleans and later taught language arts and history in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. She achieved National Board Certification and was named 2001 Louisiana Teacher of the Year. The next year, she became an assistant principal and enjoyed five years of administration in a middle school setting. In 1990 she was sent to Confratute, a summer conference at the University of Connecticut. There, she met Vidabeth Benson, who taught her the art of screen printing. After establishing a friendship with Vidabeth and even assisting her at Confratute in subsequent years, Barbara introduced the students in her English classes to screen printing as an enrichment activity when teaching poetry.