20 years of friendship visual art teacher caren andrews and drama teacher jon burnett talk about their longtime friendship, professional partnership, and building the sffs arts program from the ground up.
Two decades ago, Caren Andrews remembers that she was first drawn to a small, fledgling school in the Castro because of the way it seemed to mentor its teachers and provide generous opportunities for growth and free thinking. She would become San Francisco Friends School’s first art teacher— and she’s happily been creating art among friends: winter 2022
with her students first at Diamond Street, and now at 250 Valencia, ever since. “I appreciate being an artist at a school that encourages us to speak our Inner Light. We aren’t shut down or censored—and that’s [an essential] part of art-making.” She notes that San Francisco Friends
School also supported her when she pursued a Master’s in Arts Integration halfway through her 20-year tenure as an art teacher here. Caren says she’s come to consider her classroom a “thinking lab,” where students can stretch their creativity and feel a sense of belonging, whether they consider
