Georgia O'Keeffe began teaching art in Texas in 1912.
In 1912, she accepted a teaching position at the State Normal School in Canyon, Texas, now West Texas A&M University. She taught art and later became head of the art department. The job gave her financial independence and time to develop her own ideas.
O'Keeffe's Texas years were important because the region's wide skies, open plains, and stark light influenced her visual imagination. She returned to Texas in teaching roles and later produced paintings based on the area's landscapes.
New Mexico is the state most closely associated with her mature career, so it is an easy alternative answer. However, she did not begin teaching there in 1912. Her early teaching posts also included schools in South Carolina and Virginia before her career became centered on New York and the Southwest.