Chris Heidt is Ocean Lakes’ newest dolphin family member. This year, he teaches five classes of Art I Foundations. 

“I’ve never had this many students ever, all in art foundations, which in a way is good because I only have to plan for foundations classes,” said Heidt. “It’s like 130 kids.”

Many schools have a hard time finding art teachers who have a background and education in art, Heidt has both.

“I went to the school of visual arts in New York for two years, and then I finished at ODU,” said Heidt.

Although he loved to draw from a young age, Heidt started his career as an artist in middle school.

“I got in The Virginia Pilot for winning an award for Youth Art Month and that was the first indication that maybe I could be good at this,” said Heidt. 

Heidt has been a professional artist for over 20 years, and he specializes in graphic design. 

“My dad was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get any work, and at that time I didn’t really work with computers because I was very traditional,” said Heidt. “My dad said ‘the world is changing and using designers more- you really need to get into that, ‘ and so I did. I started an internship at The Pilot in the summertime, so I did graphic design for them, and it just kept going.”

After just a few months of school, Heidt is creating a safe environment for his beginner art students to grow and learn. 

“The class is fun, funny, and I like how he lets us do our thing at our own pace,” said Bella Underwood. “I would absolutely recommend his class to other students.”