Those who enjoy teaching and working with children don't always need to work in schools to follow a career path they love. For example, Lisa Mares of Texas spoke to mysanantonio.com this week about her career as a children's art teacher. She spent ten years as a child care professional before establishing an art studio for children in 1994. Since then, her business, Artworks, has grown to three locations that earn an annual total of about $120,000. "Art is the only subject that can be taught to multi-age children. It is a discipline where everyone does it on their own level," Mares told the website. The seeds for Mares' business were planted in 1992 when she earned her Family Day Home accreditation, which included a requirement to research a business plan that would benefit families. She added that her future goals include helping other women develop their own businesses and with tasks such as advertising. The Bureau of Labor Statistics website observes that people interested in art careers generally begin taking art courses in high school and can then branch off depending on their training and skills into specialties such as teaching, medical illustrating, art directors and more. About 218,000 Americans were working as artists in 2006, according to the BLS.  |