Raised in the Chicago area, Cerling graduated from Iowa State University. She moved to Houston in the mid 1970’s and taught graphics at the University of St. Thomas in the late 1970’s.

In 1980 Cerling changed her focus to printmaking, working at Little Egypt Enterprises as a collaborative etching printer until 1990 when she started Cerling Etching Studio. She also worked at Tembo-Cerling Colllaboratives until the early 2000’s. Her work with Texas artists is in many museum collections.

Cerling’s own work is mainly pen & ink on paper or wood and focuses on her interest in how things work: the underlying composition of vegetative forms, the continuing evolution and pathways of genetics, the structure of the Universe, the molecules within and around us.

Cerling became an RN in 1995 continuing her work as an artist and learning more as an RN. She retired from nursing in 2013.

Cerling’s exhibition record can be requested. Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Art Museum of South Texas and Texas Tech Museum Collection.