Heidi Brown is the new art teacher at McIntosh High School for the 2025-2026 school year, following former teacher Carisa Green, who retired. Having been an art educator for over 20 years in Fayette County and Henry County, with teaching experience predominantly in elementary art, Brown has chosen to continue her art career at McIntosh with high school students.
Born and raised in Peachtree City, she graduated from University of Georgia and from Troy University and University of West Georgia graduate programs. She was inspired to make art by her mom’s creativity and discovered her passion for art when she was a kid.
“My cousins and my siblings and I would just color all the time in coloring books. And I just remember they would do these elaborate, beautiful blended colors with crayons and coloring books,” Brown said.
More recently, she aspires to upcycle old clothes and now finds her inspiration to do so from the McIntosh student body.
“They’re so talented that I want to try it,” Brown said.
Moreover, one of the reasons why Brown loves teaching art is that it helps her learn art.
“What I love about teaching is I keep learning. I mean, I have to know what I’m gonna teach. And no matter how great an art education program you come from, you can’t learn everything you know as of in your college years, and so much of what I know about teaching art–in fact, most of what I know about it–came from one the job, just trying things out, trial and error,” Brown said.
Through trial and error, she also believes that engaging in art helps her create a more engaging experience for her students.
“If I want to teach about an artist, I don’t necessarily know everything about that artist, so I have to do my own research to prepare, you know, what I’m gonna teach the students about. If there’s a technique I’ve never used, you know, I have to play around with it. And even if I’m familiar with it, I have to know how I can get other kids to be able to do this and feel successful and not get frustrated, frustrated and give up,” Brown said.
Brown loves teaching at McIntosh and is hopeful for the future of her students. She has no favorite artist as she finds it difficult to decide, but she is certain that the artists in her community are her favorites.
“My students are some of my favorite artists, and my own children at home are so creative. This school is a dream. I’ve met so many talented students and just kind, good people. It makes me so happy for our future because there is a generation like this.”
