How an aspiring artist turned her work into a living
Amy Dolan teaches photography, graphic design, and painting at Dedham High School.
Amy Dolan never planned on becoming a teacher. Growing up, her version of a perfect world involved spending all day drawing.
As an undergraduate at University of Massachusetts Amherst, she majored in fine art through an interdisciplinary study program that let her try a variety of mediums: ceramics, painting, sculpture, print media, and animation.
One of Amy Dolan’s students works on a painting of ballet slippers.
Though this experience gave Dolan a wide skill set within the arts, the Medfield native realized upon graduating that she didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do for a career.
After a short stint at a donut shop, Dolan thought about getting certified to teach art.
“My mom is a school librarian and my sister is also,” Dolan said. “So school and a teacher’s schedule has always been in our family. I started to think maybe that could be really interesting.”
Dolan decided to get a teaching certificate at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, but was still undecided about her future.
“It was really tough. I felt torn,” the 28-year-old said. “After I decided to just get certification in teaching, I then decided I really did want a [Master of Fine Arts degree]. Art teachers who still pursue their own work are better teachers I’ve always felt. So I still really wanted to do that for myself and keep working on my stuff.”
“Some had art a bunch in middle school, and some didn’t,” Dolan said. “I make sure they have the skills to express their big ideas.”
To continue pursuing her own art, Dolan got an MFA at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Now, she’s an art teacher at Dedham High School, where she teaches photography, graphic design, Art 1, and painting.
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“It ended up working out well in terms of being a teacher because I had dipped into everything,” Dolan said. “Having been exposed to so much I just have to stay one step ahead of them.”
In Dolan’s classroom one recent spring morning, students of all four grades hunched over paintings of ballet dancers, lighthouses, and palm trees — focused and quiet. Some donned earbuds, while others gave one another advice on how to improve one of their final pieces of the semester.
Some of the students submit their work to local art shows or galleries.
Meanwhile, Dolan fluttered around the classroom from student to student, offering advice, fresh paint, and constructive criticism. Bon Iver played softly from her computer; pictures of her two pugs are scattered across the walls.
Though Dolan’s career path may have deviated from what she anticipated, she said she loves teaching and sees herself helping Dedham High School improve its art program and introduce more advanced art classes over the next few years.
Dolan’s favorite class to teach is film photography — a medium lost to many schools in the digital age.
“Luckily, we still have a dark room,” Dolan said, adding that her students’ achievements in photography over the past couple years have encouraged the school to keep the class. “Photo is so nice especially because kids are so hung up on everything digital. It’s cool to watch them learn film photography because it takes so long and a lot of them don’t even know what film is.”
To unwind from work, Dolan said she enjoys running and taking pictures of her pugs.
Dolan said even though many of her students won’t pursue art professionally, she loves watching them connect to their more creative side.
“A lot of kids might not really be into art but once they’re exposed they see, ‘Oh wait, I really can draw!'” she said. “Because some people think you’re born with it, but it’s definitely a learned thing.”
To get her students interested, Dolan tries to incorporate current events, celebrities, or pop culture into the curriculum. In graphic design class, the students create logos for different brands. But sometimes, she said they just really want to draw a self-portrait or someone they care about.
A student at work on a painting.
The hardest part of the job? Paperwork.
“There’s a lot more than you would think, and dealing with the logistics of all of that ‘not in the classroom’ stuff can be really consuming when you just want to teach your classrooms and have it be about the kids, but it comes with the territory I guess,” Dolan said.
It can also be challenging confronting preconceived notions about art teachers.
“Everyone always thinks it’s a joke and it’s just art and it’s tough because we deal with that attitude from kids, other teachers, administrators, parents, and it’s hard getting past it because so many people don’t take it seriously,” Dolan said.
To get past that, Dolan focuses on just always taking her job seriously and trying her best to do a good job and open students’ eyes to why art is important.
“Sometimes teachers will try to pull kids from art class and I have to remind them it’s just as important a part of the day as other classes,” she added.
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