COULEE CITY — Students at Coulee City Elementary School and Almira/Coulee-Hartline High School got a special look at the arts last week. 

“They get to do artwork through the springtime season, and then they choose their favorite piece to enter into the contest at the Highlighters Art Club,” said Jennifer Schuh, who teaches art at both schools. “The Highlighters display (the art) for a few weeks, and then after the contest has ended, I take the kids on a walk from the elementary school down to the Highlighters Art Club (Gallery), where we meet with some of the art club members. We talk about the art that the members do, and we get to see all of their art on display. When we're done there, we walk with our group down to Don Nutt’s Cariboo Trail Studio and we have a (question and answer) with him, where he talks about his life growing up here in Coulee City as an artist and how he started out.” 

The event followed on the heels of the Coulee City Art Walk on April 11. Schuh has been taking the elementary students on this field trip for about five years, she said, and this year added a walk for her high school class as well. The older students made the rounds April 14, and the elementary students the next day. The elementary walk had to be done in shifts, Schuh said, because there were 40 in kindergarten through second grade and another 40 in third through fifth grades. 

“It gets a little too rambunctious inside (otherwise),” said Highlighters member Tammy Kurtzenacker. 

At the Highlighters Gallery, students could see their own art on display adorned with prize ribbons as well as examples of many kinds of art, including oil, watercolor and acrylic paintings, sculpture, mixed media and Kurtzenacker’s intricately painted handsaws. 

“The joy on the kids when they walk in the door is just priceless,” Kurtzenacker said. “They get to see other people's art as well as theirs. And there’s an excitement of seeing ‘Oh my goodness, mine got first, second or third.’ It's one of our favorite things that we do.” 

The trip is educational for several reasons, Schuh said. Besides being exposed to arts and media that’s new to the students, they also get to learn about the people who make the art. 

“I wanted them to learn what the life of an artist is like,” Schuh said. “The art club ladies, they do art as a hobby. Seeing the different types of art at the art club is enriching for (the students), because there's different media. Some of (the artists) do painting on tile. Some of them do watercolor, some of them do oil, all the different varieties.” 

Kurtzenacker had some terra cotta pot characters on display at the gallery, she said, and got to explain to the students how she made them. 

“The kids were so enthralled,” Kurtzenacker said. “They kept asking questions (like) ‘how long does it take?’ and I described the three-day process to do one pot … I took (some of) them aside and let them know how talented they were and that I would love for them to come down and sit with us and paint or doodle or whatever they feel like doing.” 

Nutt sold his first painting more than 50 years ago, he told the Columbia Basin Herald last year, and has been a full-time artist for about 19 years. His Cariboo Trail Studio was the second stop on the trip. 

“(The students) get to see what it's like to do art for a living and see how he got to be a professional artist, and the steps that he had to take,” Schuh said. “It gives them a good idea of how they can be using art to enrich their lives, as a hobby or as a way to make a living.” 

Art is crucial to children’s education, Schuh said. 

“There's a lot of kids who really look forward to coming back to the art program every year,” she said. “I think it's important to keep these enrichment activities going, especially in these small communities where there's not a lot of opportunity to enter a contest, or to win at something. Art is special.” 

    From left: Austin King, Max Beal, Kalaya Garza (behind Max), Andrew Berkey, William Allsbrook and Ben Grindy check out what prizes their artwork has won at the Highlighters Art Club Gallery April 15. This is the 24th year the club has hosted the contest.
  

    Besides seeing their own artistic success, students were able to check out art in a variety of styles and media at the school art walk April 15.
  

    Almira/Coulee-Hartline High School students show their entries in the Highlighters Art Club contest at Don Nutt’s Cariboo Trail Studio in Coulee City April 14. Back, from left: Paul Stout, Noah Butler, Jameson Conley, Ian McWalter, Grayson Beal, Ed Jennings, Cheyann Sexton, Priya Markwell, Alexis Entrup, Addie Wright, Don Nutt, Aubrey Rimel, Tyler Camden, AJ Prentice. Front: Levi Oliver, Lainee Baergen, Madison Champeaux, Grace Erickson, Josie Bayless, William Allsbrook.
  

    Students in the Coulee City area have plenty to inspire their art with dozens of sports to stop and enjoy one of the most scenic areas in the Columbia Basin.