For the Love of Art

Dee+Christies+artwork.++Photo+credit%3A+Dee+Christie

Dee Christie’s artwork. Photo credit: Dee Christie

Roxanne Thayer, Contributor

Dee Christie, art teacher at Bellows Free Academy, and artist across Vermont, has taken her work all over the place; from New Hampshire, to Boston, to Burlington, Christie found her way here at BFA. 

Since she was young, Christie has had a knack for art. “[I] always really enjoyed art, since I was little, I used to draw a lot…I was always drawing everything,” Christie said. 

Christie’s father, Art, played a role in her passion for creativity; he, too, loved artwork. “My dad was pretty creative,” Christie said. 

It wasn’t until after high school that Christie’s art career really started. Christie went to college at Notre Dame College in New Hampshire to major in commercial art. Christie then worked in Boston for a few months designing logos but soon realized Boston wasn’t the city for her. 

Christie continued with graphic design at the Burlington Free Press creating logos, slogans and advertisements. 

I worked inside one year way back….and then I hated [working in an office],” Christie said. 

Later on, Christie realized she wanted to go back to school, which led her to leave the Burlington Free Press. 

When asked what made her get into teaching, Christie said, “I have always been teaching swimming at the [Saint Albans] City School since I was 17…I was like, okay, I love teaching, I love kids…I like art…so I went back and got certified to teach through Johnson State [College].”

Since then, Christie has been teaching art at BFA. 

Christie also does freelance work designing paintings on old book pages, and she sells them at vendor shows at the Milton Artist Guild. Christie’s work can also be found at Rail City Market in Saint Albans

For the main part, though, teaching is what Christie loves. 

Christie said her favorite part of teaching is, “Working with [the students], working with kids for sure.”