Bringing the arts to young people

HAYDEN - Jake Fields held his hand up, a lumpy, gray band of clay looped around one of his fingers.

"I can pretend it's a ring," the Atlas Elementary first-grader proclaimed with a grin.

Jake was standing with some of his classmates near a table in the school gym where two adult artists were working with the clay.

It was the school's third annual Atlas Art Tour, coordinated by district art teacher Anne Couser.

Artists young and old - some professional, some not - worked at various tables set up around the gym. As the artists created, schoolchildren roamed through the room, examining different creative processes.

"It's so good for them to see that art can be lifelong. It gives the kids the idea of the role art plays in the community," said Couser, who has taught art in the Coeur d'Alene School District for 11 years.

The students watched and listened to some performance art as well as dancing and live music.

As Coeur d'Alene musician Riverboat Dave played guitar, with Jesse Bishop on percussion and Jess Kunz on harmonica, a few young boys lined up behind them, crossed their arms and began their own version of a Riverdance.

Couser looked at the youngsters and smiled.

"My hope is that they become lifelong artists ... or dancers," she said.

An Atlas fifth-grade student painted in oils at one of the tables. Couser said the quality of Noah Barber's work, at age 11, is near professional.

Noah was working on a piece depicting a grizzly bear. Behind him were canvases bearing earlier works - a roaring lion, a cat and a groundhog that Noah said was his first painting at age 7.

His advice to young artists is: "If you mess up, keep trying."

Nearby, Harlie Potts, a Lake City High School junior, used graphite to etch an image of an old man.

"It's nice to be able to share this with the younger kids, to show them what they can do and where art can take them," Potts said. "It's a good place for kids with a lot of imagination."