Swenson grew up just outside of Rapid City, South Dakota. The closest neighbor was a mile away. Reared in this rural environment, Swenson's connection with the natural world was strong. After receiving her BA in painting from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she moved to Colorado. She has spent most of her life in small towns that sit right next to the last remaining bits of wilderness. She has lived in the mountains of Colorado, near the ocean on Maui, Hawaii, the desert near Joshua Tree, California, and now the area south of Santa Fe, New Mexico, just off of the Turquoise Trail. She feels the most at home out in nature. In the studio, her second home, she can explore her relationship with the natural world. Her paintings are reflections of this relationship. Swenson has been a full time artist for the past seventeen years.