If you take any fine arts classes, chances are you’ve run into Wayland High School’s new visual arts teacher, Tracie Dunn. Dunn teaches a variety of art classes including Art 1, metalworks and visual photography. In the morning, Dunn spends her mornings at the Loker School teaching art to kindergarteners.

A new class to the high school is visual photography. It replaced the 35-mm photography course that previously ran at Wayland High School and introduces digital tools to the picture-making process.

Before teaching at Wayland High School, Dunn taught at Hopkinton High School for seven years. Before that, she worked in a high-end New Orleans jewelry gallery.

Dunn has been interested in art since she was young. She grew up in an ideal nurturing environment for any young artist because her father was a freelance graphic designer and her grandmother hand-made jewelry.

“Really it started there, with a lot of support inside my house,” said Dunn. “There are a lot of people who make art for a living in my family so it’s always been supported and it’s always felt natural.”

Dunn’s passion for the arts began to flourish in high school. She had many memorable experiences that shaped her as an artist, most prevalent being the time her art class made real Renaissance-style Italian frescoes for the first time. It ended up being a big project, taking months to complete. Although the results of the pieces were mediocre, Dunn explained that she really enjoyed exploring new territory with her teacher, instead of doing a project that had been done a million times.

“I try to still pull from that experience even as a teacher, just to be brave, test out new territory and not let things get too stale, even if it means the results aren’t going to be perfect,” said Dunn.

After graduating high school, Dunn majored in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). It was during this phase of her life that Dunn learned the disciplined artist’s state of mind. She learned to think and problem solve like an artist. She learned not to use obvious solutions, but ones that were more difficult to develop.

“That’s really the whole idea behind art, to dig a little deeper than what you’re personally capable and what your audience is willing to look at. Have that conversation with yourself first and then with your audience- it was a big part of my college experience,” said Dunn of her studio experience at RISD.

While Dunn was in school, she thought that becoming a designer would be the best career path. But as she looked at her résumé she noticed that most of her experience came from art classes and programs. She realized that not only was this the direction her resume was headed but possibly her life as well.

“I thought, ‘why don’t I try teaching?’ And sure enough I got a job right after undergraduate school, which gave me a taste of it and I was hooked,” Dunn said.

Once Dunn realized that becoming an art teacher was the right career path for her, she earned a master’s degree in art education at New York University.

Dunn’s teaching career brought her to the Wayland Public Schools this year. So far, she has had a positive experience working in Wayland. Dunn describes Wayland’s students as high-achieving, and likes that they don’t settle for less than they are capable of. Dunn also enjoys teaching a wide age range of students from kindergartners to high-schoolers.

“I’m starting to know the community from both ends-what it’s like to start a kid into school and then what is it like to see them off to the next stage of their life,” said Dunn.

Dunn’s experience with visual arts has brought her knowledge on how to succeed in this field. She was once in the same shoes as any student at Wayland High School planning on working in the art industry.

Dunn suggests if you’re interested in art to keep working in whatever medium you can-it may be your favorite, or may not-because they are all related and support each other. She also recommends students take art classes in and out of school, because they will help in the long run.

“Take every opportunity you have to make art or be creative. Just go for it,” Dunn said.