Clare Ortblad has joined the staff of the Bainbridge Island Review as the newspaper’s new creative artist and graphic designer.

“We are excited to have Clare join our team,” said Donna Etchey, publisher of the Review. “She brings fresh and creative ideas.”

Ortblad comes to the staff with a solid background in design and visual communication, as well as work experience that included numerous positions abroad.

“I claim Seattle as my hometown but I did not grow up in the Pacific Northwest,” Ortblad said. “I grew up mostly overseas because my father’s job required our whole family to move around a lot.”

Her homes afar have included Japan, the Philippines, Switzerland and Germany.

She initially pursued her interest in art at the Rhode Island School of Design. She would continue to expand her interest in art and design as well as international relations at the University of Washington.

“My upbringing cultivated my love for travel, and not long after graduation, I moved to Phnom Penh, Cambodia,” Ortblad said. “I lived and worked there for two years at a grassroots non-governmental organization, the Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture. There I worked with local staff to improve their communications and marketing materials, which included meeting with farmers in rural provinces.”

Next Ortblad worked at the English-language newspaper The Cambodia Daily, as a designer of their weekly magazine “The Weekend,” and as an associate editor.

She recently moved back to Washington.

“I am excited to be living here again and I am especially excited about being at the Bainbridge Island Review,” she said.