By Eileen Persike
Editor
The annual K-12 School District of Rhinelander Art Show is open to the public through Feb. 29 at ArtStart in downtown Rhinelander. During the opening reception children, parents, siblings, grandparents and community members meandered through the galleries admiring the work of the students.

“There are many different media, many different techniques, many different artist expressions from kindergarten through twelfth grade students,” said James Williams Middle School art teacher Brian Carpenter. “It’s a great opportunity for our community to be able to view this, for us as teachers to put this on – I can’t say enough about it.”

Art projects made of clay, watercolor, tempera and oil paint, paper maché and computer manipulated pieces, among others adorn the walls and display shelves. Family members photographed students standing proudly next to their creations and engaged in conversation about the art process.

Enthusiasm is one of the things Carpenter said he hopes the students take away from being involved in the public art show.

“All of us are natural beasts of working with artistic materials,” He said. “After all, when we were little, our parents went out to dinner and on the table there’s a coloring sheet and crayons. It wouldn’t matter if we were 8-months-old or 7-years-old, we sat and colored. Scribbling was the first form we did…now it’s just working on those fine motor skills.”

The artwork will be on display during gallery hours, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. The ArtStart gallery is located at 68 S. Stevens St. in Rhinelander.

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Paper maché, oil paint, tempera paint and Cray Pas are just a few of the artistic media used by the students.