Alex Hofgren was born and grew up in Miami, Florida, as the only child of two English parents. Her mother was a magazine editor and her father was a marine scientist. Books, literary conversation and intellectual curiosity were a big part of home life. Her father loved to tinker with things. He built hi-fi sets, lawn sprinkler systems, bookcases, and a variety of other objects. Saturday afternoons were spent at Poe’s hardware store, where Alex wandered past bins of pipe fittings, mechanical parts, screws, nails, gaskets and so on, wondering what they were all used for. Sundays were spent sailing. Upon graduating from high school, Alex went to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where she studied art and literature, and learned how to weld. After college she got a job in New York City, first as a ghostwriter, then as an assistant editor on Sportfishing magazine. Then she got married and moved to Washington, where her husband was involved in politics and social life. The arts were put on hold for a while, and Alex learned to cook, raise a son and speak Spanish. When Alex finally had time for herself again, she took classes at the Corcoran School of Art and became a portrait painter. Then her marriage dissolved and she became a real estate broker to pay the bills. She bought a small house in New Market, thinking that she could come out to the country and paint in her spare time, but the house was barely a shell, and had to be substantially renovated. So Alex learned how to do plumbing, electrical, carpentry, installing windows and painting roofs, not to mention jacking up the floor to replace some sill plates. It was hard work, but interesting. Washington no longer seemed so important, so she sold her house there and bought some rental property in Shenandoah County. She doubled the size of her house, and while she was still working on that, taught art for a while at the Seventh Day Academy in New Market. Then she was approached by some people who wanted to start an art gallery in Mt. Jackson. This was the beginning of The Art Group, a co-op gallery founded in 1999. She was President of the group until June of 2007, when she resigned to spend more time on her own interests. Alex is currently teaching two different classes a week at The Art Group, and working on her own art full time. She also breeds and trains Mountain Pleasure horses.