Carolyn King is an image-maker, a teaching-artist, a Special Needs Mom and a proud bilingual/bicultural community member. Currently living in the Sonoran Desert city, Tucson, Arizona, she was born and raised in midwestern Chicago area.
Blessed by curious, inspiring and supportive parents, Carolyn traveled extensively as a young woman. She lived for a year in Belgium at age 17 followed by travels through Greece, Italy, France and neighboring European countries before returning to the States.
By age 19, Carolyn had landed in Central Mexico. Although the initial visit had been planned for an intensive month-long “Portrait Workshop”, this visit resulted in a life-altering, formative stay of nearly 4 years. During this time, Carolyn studied printmaking at the Instituto Allende while deep diving into both Mexican culture and the Spanish language. Her roots have grown there over the past 50 years (??!!). Carolyn lived, studied, worked and brought her daughter into the world in Mexico over a period of 20+ years. In the 1990’s, she founded a small art center called Corazon del Artista (Heart of the Artist) where students ages 3-91 came to explore a range of media and personal expression through Children’s Summer Programs and both classes or workshops for adults and teens.
Carolyn has served as a teaching-artist on both sides of the border for over 40 years now. The work includes participants of all ages, nationalities and abilities. This work occurs in schools, clinics, hospitals, community centers, retirement communities and in her private studio. After many years of focusing on offering classes and workshops, Carolyn’s work currently centers around community-based collaborations. She considers herself to be a ‘Creativity Midwife ’of sorts.
Her role is to design projects that assist in bringing forth Creative Spirit in participants of all walks of Life.
Carolyn received formal training as an undergrad. Both at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende and The School of the Chicago Art Institute where she earned the BFA degree in the late 1970’s. In 1895, she earned an M.A.in Arts & Consciousness at John F. Kennedy University located in the S.F. Bay Area. The focus of the M.A. degree was ‘Arts & Healing’ which has been the foundation for her teaching for the past 4 decades. Throughout her life-long commitment to Visual Arts, Carolyn has exhibited her own imagery in co-op galleries and other locations as she has supported her family through her teaching work.