[1] While still a student at Bath she created her first abstract reliefs, having been introduced to systematic constructivism by her tutors John Ernest and Malcolm Hughes.
[2][3] For a time, Spencer taught at the Loughborough College of Art before moving to the Bulmershe College of Higher Education in Reading where she was a staff member for twenty years until 1988 when she joined the faculty of the Slade School of Fine Art in central London, where she remained for ten years in different posts.
[3] During 1977 and 1978, Spencer produced a series of publications, Working Information, featuring drawings and designs by Systems Group and other Systematic-Constructive artists.
[2][3] Spencer lived in London and for twenty-five years was the partner of her former Bath tutor and Systems Group artist, Malcolm Hughes who she married in 1997, shortly before he died.
[3] They worked on a number of projects together including a 1990s exhibition and symposium, Testing the System held at Kettle's Yard in Cambridge, where, subsequently, Spencer was an artist-fellow at Churchill College.