Carolyn Gora

Carolyn is a true Floridian, born and raised in St. Petersburg, Florida.  She is a graduate of the University of South Florida with a Bachelors and Masters in Art Education and was an art instructor for 30 years.  Highlights include: Being hired by Ida Baker and Opening Cape Coral High School in 1979-80 as its first full time art instructor, as well as teaching at Cypress Lake Middle School, an arts magnet, for 18 years.  She was honored as a Golden Apple Teacher in 2001. She’s a National Board Certified Teacher and was Middle Art Teacher of the Year twice for Lee County and Middle School Art Teacher of the Year for Florida.  She worked as an adjunct professor at Edison Community College, University of Florida, and Florida Gulf Coast University.

Carolyn has always been involved in the arts organizations in Lee County.  She has been involved with the Alliance for the Arts since its inception and is currently a board member.  She was co-President of the Lee County Art Education’s Association and taught workshops at Florida Art Education Association’s conferences and at the National Art Education Association convention. Also, she is currently the Chairperson of the Public Art Committee for the City of Fort Myers.

Carolyn has always been drawn to crafts, preferably working small.  She originally created jewelry, which she taught for 5 years at Edison Community College, and then worked in fused glass in the 1990’s when it was a new medium. Currently she likes to work with multi mediums, paper, fiber, watercolors to design 3-dimentional creations.

Carolyn’s works have been juried into shows at the Cape Coral Art Center, the Alliance for the Arts, RSW “Art in Flight,” FAEA Educator Show, Tampa Art Museum, and an Israel-USA Show “Art Beyond Boundaries.”  She has juried shows for the Alliance for the Arts, Cape Coral Art Studio, Cape Coral Art League, The Fort Myers Art Association, The Pine Island Art Association and LAEA High School Juried Art Show.