 Priestley's influences include Hilma af Klint, Mary Ellen Bute, David Hockney, Jane Aaron, Len Lye, Norman McLaren and Jules Engel.She has taught animation, portfolio design and cinema history at the Northwest Film Center/Portland Art Museum, Pacific Northwest College of Art, Art Institute of Portland and Volda University College (Volda Norway) as well as teaching animation workshops throughout the US and in Canada, Germany and Norway.She is an active proponent of animation as an art form and has worked throughout her career to improve the status and exposure of animation in academia, museums, galleries and the media worldwide.