Carolyn Funk is in their 15th year of being an art teacher here at Heritage, and shares her personal experiences and moral lessons they have taken away from her art career.

Tell me about your passion for art.

I started drawing and doing watercolor paintings when I was a little kid, and probably started drawing on my whiteboard in my room around seven or eight. Then I realized that I could draw Garfield and Odie cartoons pretty well. There was a lady who cleaned our house every two weeks and made notes on my drawings about how good they were. When I got that feedback, I never stopped.

What made you want to become an art teacher?

I originally didn’t want to be a teacher because my mom was a math teacher and I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps, so I started my career as a graphic designer. Then I realized that was sitting behind a computer all day which didn’t fit my personality. A lot of my friends were teachers, and I had done a lot of teaching roles in my life, like coaching and stuff. So I finally decided to quit my miserable job as a graphic designer and try to become an art teacher. At first I was a sub, and when I started subbing for art classes, I realized that a high school was exactly where I belonged… I didn’t look back after that.

What has your overall experience been like during your years of being in this position?

I started at Heritage 15 years ago, my first year was really difficult. I was split between here and Wester Middle School. We had another art teacher who was here full time, but he left in March, that year was really tough. After that, I had a really great co-teacher named Sara Watkins. We built the program from the ground up and added more and more teachers. Once you have more teachers, you’re able to offer more classes, then it’s more complicated, but it becomes more exciting. We’re in a really good spot right now with the teachers that we have. We have a variety of talents in our department, and I think we have a really strong art program.

What lessons have you learned during your art career?

I had an art teacher in high school tell me that if you make art your career, you might lose your love for it, and I have found that to be the case. When I was a graphic designer, I did not want to make my own art. Now that I’m an art teacher, I’m not making art every day. I want to make art when I get home or when I have extra time. I need to make art that I enjoy and love. If other people want to buy it, they can. But every time I try to turn my art into a career, it negatively impacts my mental health, so I won’t do that anymore.

Since the art program is often overlooked here at Heritage, tell me why people should pay more attention to it.

I hope it’s not that overlooked because we have art in the hallway and we have so many art teachers. But for those of you who don’t know about art and who aren’t aware of it, we intentionally are very open minded. We want as many people to be able to take it no matter how much experience you have in it… it’s not a problem. We’re here to show you all the ways that you can create art. We’re not here to judge your art and we’re not here to tell you that your art is good or bad. We’re just here to help you create the art that you want. Anybody can take it, my whole philosophy in teaching is: art is for everyone. So no matter where you are, you’re welcome in the art department.