Carver Artists

A Special Edition of Digital Fringe

Click here to see stills of the collection

Gary Olsen

ince starting the Digital Fringe Gallery on our cable channel (16) and this website, I've had a unique opportunity to tour the district's many art classes, and observe a variety of budding talents. I believe we have the best team of art teachers a district could ever hope for. Visual arts are a critically important part of any school curriculum, and I believe many parents and stakeholders in eduction (that includes all of us truthfully) understand that developing the visual and auditory areas of a young brain have an undeniably positive impact on overall learning skills.

I am gallery artist myself, and I can honestly say if it wasn't for inspirational teachers I had in elementary and middle school, I might not have pursued a career as an artist or filmmaker. But of course I did, and I can say with absolute authority that art classes, especially those in which a student is allowed to get messy, are the best things about education.

Art in school is far more than drawing, painting, sculpture and all that it encompasses. We live in a visual world, and teaching children how to express themselves visually provides them with essential communiction skills. Math, science and reading would far less interesting without art. We are surrounded by creative forms of visual expression, from the buildings we occupy to the products we buy. From the things we watch to entertain ourselves, to the food we consume and just about anything in our civilized world you can think of involved an artist, designer or illustrator of one kind or another.

In any event, I just love these pieces, and I want to thank art teachers Shirley Deppe, Steve Van Vleck, and teacher, Donna Schmitt (photographer for this project) for their willingness to contribute to this wonderful edition of Digital Fringe.

Click here for an archival version of the movie you can keep forever.