Brandhorst Brings Passion for Art to NAHS Students

Longtime NAHS art teacher Natalie Brandhorst

Mary Beth Walworth

Longtime NAHS art teacher Natalie Brandhorst

To some students, she’s the coolest teacher they have. To others, she’s a complete mystery. Just really who is Natalie Brandhorst? She’s the bubbly art teacher of North Atlanta High that likes to keep people guessing. If you get to know her, there’s one thing you don’t have to guess about and that’s this: she has a strong passion for art and teaching.

Brandhorst has been teaching for 23 years and loves helping students develop their artistic abilities and to find their own unique style. “Seeing kids thrive through discovering their creativity and uniqueness is what made me want to start teaching,” she said. “I want to help students realize that there is no right and wrong way to create something.”

She believes that education needs to be creative, fun and engaging. Rather than opting for techniques that emphasize memorization, standardization, lectures, or note-taking, her teaching style is much more hands-on and activity based. Brandhorst wants her students to think for themselves and learn helpful problem solving skills.

She said she discovered her passion for art in her early-teens. “When I was younger, I loved to make things with my hands, to deconstruct and reconstruct. I still love this,” she said.

Her art, she said, is inspired by life, death, metaphor, nature, and teaching.

She attended Carrollton High School and graduated from Haralson County High School. For her post-secondary education, she attended and graduated from the University of West Georgia in Carrollton with her bachelor’s of fine arts degree in sculpture and ceramics, along with a minor in humanistic psychology. After West Georgia, she attended Georgia State University where she received her teaching certification. She is also a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she received her Masters of Fine Arts in Painting. Her first teaching job was at Woodward Academy. She then taught at Grady High School for five years and she came to North Atlanta in 2003.

Brandhorst doesn’t just believe in art, she married art. Her husband, John Brandhorst, is a longtime art teacher at Grady High School.

She said she loves teaching new students each year and is also proud to see her students graduate. Letting go of her seniors is hard but it warms her heart to see them go out and experience the world for themselves.

She always reminds all of her students to follow their dreams, and she’s even quick to give a playbook for how they might do so. “Follow your bliss and never settle for less,” she said. “Foster your curiosity. Dance like no one is watching. Sing like you are in the shower. Work hard and play hard, and remember there is more than one way to answer any question.”