McCallister had many teachers and attended many different art schools along the way to develop her skills. Much of her development she credits to working with other artists. ‘Artists need Artists’ is one of her favorite mantras. McCallister furthered her skills as an artist through the Bruchion School of the Arts in Los Angeles from 1980 until 1992 becoming an integral part of the movement taking place there. She participated in many of the group shows, had a solo show and curated two.

McCallister had taken up residence in Taos, New Mexico in 1997 and continued to paint. She returned to college and got her visual arts degree at UNM of Taos. During her years in Taos she opened Galerie Ledoux for 4 years and was curator at New Grounds Gallery for 3. She was visual Arts Director for the Dharma Corporation. Then she created her own faux finishing and art consulting business with a group of friends and they called it ARTillery.

After Taos she spent time in Guatemala where she had many shows both solo and group.She painted the local scenes in gouache en plein aire of Panajachel, her small town on Lago Atitlan.

She traveled back and forth from Atitlan to Las Vegas, Nevada. McCallister created a series of En Plein Aire paintings at the Neon Boneyard while she was there. She had 3 shows at the Brett Wesley Gallery. All her shows depicted the locals and the unique environment. Most recently her work was juried into the de Young Open 2023.

Currently she resides in Napa, California and Costa Rica with her husband. Once again she returned to school, this time at the College of Marin. She followed her own belief that artists need each other and enrolled under the tutorage of Chester Arnold. There she learned more techniques and made new artist friends. She found a group of collage artists in nearby Sonoma that had been creating collage together for 30 years. Collage is an entirely new medium that she has embraced and added to her repertoire.