Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Moran.
Hi Caroline, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
Over my time in college at Spring Hill in Mobile, Alabama, I did two mission trips that, ultimately, changed my life. The first was to South Dakota where I lived on an Indian Reservation with the Lakota people and learned about their culture for a week. The second was to Belize City where I built a house for, as well as with, a family in need. I know that is a powerful statement to say that those trips changed my life, and I don’t throw it around lightly. The two mission trips completely changed my worldview and inspired me to want to do service work upon graduation. I found out about the Jesuit Volunteer Corps through Spring Hill and even met and spoke with current JVs while on both trips. I decided the mission of social justice called to me, so I applied and was matched with three agencies across the nation. I ended up choosing Outside the Lens, a nonprofit photography organization here in San Diego. I felt that my talents and skillset, especially considering my degree in graphic design, would be most useful for the work I’d be doing there while also satisfying my thirst to be involved in social change and impactful work. I feel that this year will be formative for determining the path I am now on for the rest of my life, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what lies ahead.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Not by a long shot. I love the work; it is very rewarding. However, I have limited teaching experience. My position is co-teacher, thankfully, though, so I get to lean on more experienced people while I work. I love art. Art has always been something that makes me excited to take on the day, but teaching art is an entirely different story and one that has presented a learning curve for me especially as I try and relate to different populations, age groups, intellectual abilities, and encounter language barriers (I don’t speak Spanish). I’m never one to back down from a challenge, though.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My position is called Media Associate, and that entails mainly co-teaching classes in photography. I am currently at three different placements that I go to throughout a week’s time. I co-teach a class at the Lindsay Center in Barrio Logan, which is a class of teen migrant girls, some of which are pregnant or parenting. Others were placed there for other reasons; it is a wonderful community with many resources. I also co-teach a class at Nativity Prep, and that population consists of sixth graders from low-income areas. I am a support teaching for Media Makers as well, which is a class for adults with learning and developmental disabilities. I am well-suited for this work, I think because I am very creative and seek to solve problems in alternate ways. I am a trained painter, having graduated as a visual artist from The Mississippi School of the Arts, a boarding high school for artistically talented and self-motivated high schoolers. I went on to Spring Hill College where I chose to hone my artistic eye and learn computer software for taking my art to the digital space. During the summer of 2019 and 2021, I got into cast iron and interned at Sculpture Trails in Solsberry, Indiana where I expanded upon my own creativity by bringing my art into the third dimension. I like to think of learning as a lifelong journey, and I intend to keep learning my craft and trying new things. If I were a clock, that would be the thing that would make me tick.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
There is no one right answer. My perspective from being a student is so fresh, as I graduated last May, and often when I was being assigned work, I’d think of ideas and already be planning what I was going to do. I never managed other peoples’ ideas, though I do have experience as a TA and stepping in to give lessons. Now working as a teacher, I have to reign in and keep a check on my own ideas because my goal is to bring out the vision of my students, and I don’t want to project my own voice onto them.
Pricing:
- I do commissioned paintings for people that I charge for based on size. 8″ x 10″ paintings are $80, 16″ x 20″ are $200. Other sizes are doable based on request.
- I also do logo design and promotional material designs for commission as well, and I charge based on time it takes.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: cmoran_art
