Gwenn Woods

Hi, I’m Gwenn Woods. I have been teaching art and drawing at tutorials since 2010. I love being able to help students view art with a Biblical worldview lens, and to see their daily life, their future life, and life’s  work all connected to who they are as a Christ follower. I am both excited and thankful for the privilege  

of teaching at Renew Christian Academy. God placed the desire to teach in my heart at a young age. I love being able to equip students and teach them the skills they need to succeed, all while having lots of  fun! 

God is the master artist. Since we are created in His image we are also creative.  God invites us to exercise our creative capacities fully by using the tools that God provided in his visual  creation, the language of art. Art is an act of worship.  

As a teacher, I work to embrace my students as they are and lovingly push them to explore this world, life, faith, and things outside of themselves in an interactive and engaging manner. I also desire to  work to ignite in them a passion for art. My goal is to help them discover the gifts and skills God  has given them that they can use in every other area of their life. 

I avoided art throughout my high school years. I was a perfectionist and constantly compared myself to others and believed that I could never be good at art, So, I received a diploma in nursing in 1978 and  practiced pediatric/ adolescent and intensive care nursing for 8 years. When I wasn’t working at the  hospital, I came in and painted murals on the nursing unit and did art projects with patients. I developed  an interest in environmental design when I had the opportunity to work with architects and interior  designers to redesign the pediatric/pediatric intensive care unit. Subsequently, I went back to college to earn my BFA in Environmental Design and Art History from Bowling Green State University. I worked  for 8 years with architectural firms and hospitals designing medical facilities before becoming a stay at  home mom to my two adopted children, Tori, now 28 and Alex, now 25. 

I served as a teacher’s aide and substitute teacher for grades Pre-K-8 for 3 years before homeschooling my children. After moving to Tennessee 12 years ago, I began teaching fine arts to grades K-6 at Franklin Classical School, and then grades 6-12 at West Harpeth Christian Tutorial 

I also assist with the Ignite Business program at Lipscomb Academy High School that engages students in  career path experiences in business. I work with business professors at Lipscomb University to introduce  students to the various disciplines in business. We connect students with businesses in the community to help students learn about various industries and to help them see the business disciplines in action. 

I am experienced in various art mediums and methods, including graphite, watercolor, pencil, acrylic and  oil paints, pastels, charcoal, ink, print-making, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. In my spare  time, I like to write, paint, garden, cook, read, hike and spend time with family and friends. I have been  married to Jerry, my high school sweetheart for 44 years and live with him and our crazy four year old  Havanese, Toby.