Raised in rural Maryland, Mettam developed an early attentiveness to landscape and wildlife, which continues to inform her work. While studying at Parsons School of Design, she was introduced to the concept of synesthesia, a framework that clarified her interest in overlapping sensory experience and non-linear ways of seeing. Her training in fashion design sharpened her sensitivity to structure, material, and surface, which carries through in her restrained palettes, translucent forms, and nuanced use of texture. She lives and works in New York City, where the density, scale, and rhythm of the urban environment have expanded her practice to include architectural forms and the psychological experience of the constructed environment.