 Priestley received a Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts, where she received the Louis B. Mayer Award.For two years she was the teaching assistant for famed abstract animator Jules Engel.Priestley made the first computer animated film at Cal Arts, "Jade Leaf" (1985), using the Cubicomp, early animation hardware that was purchased by Cal Arts in the fall of 1984.