Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Christina Johnson-Dean graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a B.A. (History, Art), completed Education at San Jose State University for a Professional Teacher’s Certificate and taught elementary school. She then travelled around the world, teaching E.S.L. in Thailand and elementary school in New Zealand. She immigrated to Canada, where she completed an M.A. (History in Art) at the University of Victoria, worked as a teaching assistant for the department and created courses on local art history for Continuing Studies. Her publications include The Crease Family: A Record of Settlement and Service in British Columbia (1981, B.C. Archives) and B.C. Women Artists 1885-1920 in the exhibition British Columbia Women Artists (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1985). She has also taught in School District #61 Victoria (mainly Special Education and E.S.L.), while she and her husband raised their two daughters.