SANDPOINT — When she was an art-inclined kid, Claire Christy was presented with numerous opportunities to participate in extracurricular athletics — but few to express her creativity or hone her artistic skills. 

Today, in her role as arts coordinator at the nonprofit Pend Oreille Arts Council, Christy oversees “Expressions”: a series of month-long teen classes hosted at the organization’s downtown Sandpoint gallery designed to offer students a chance to practice artistry outside of school. 

“We just thought it was a good way to fill that need in the community,” she said. 

Since the program launched in March 2024, community experts have come forth to teach courses centered on drawing, painting and other art forms. 

“We're definitely open to anyone who might have an idea for a class or something that they want to teach,” Christy said. 

So far, the instructors have mainly been artists who have volunteered at POAC or contributed works to the galley, including Amy Stephensen (who first proposed the concept for Expressions), Jenny Benoit and Molly Gentry, who taught a mixed media design course through the program in April. 

Teens participating in Gentry’s class practiced printmaking, painting and design to create works including a pop art-inspired self-portrait. 

“My goal when I'm teaching the kids is to just show them lots of different ways that you can make really cool art. It doesn't have to be just traditional,” she said. “The kind of art they do with me, they get to just express themselves, and it doesn't have to be perfection.”

At the end of the course, to help the students put their new abilities into practice, Gentry instructed them to create a collage using paint, plaster, magazine clippings and items from her personal menagerie of unique reclaimed materials, including assorted playing cards, postage stamps, fake flowers and plastic doll limbs. 

“It’s all recycled stuff.” she said. “You can make art out of anything.” 

To cover the cost of materials and instruction, Christy draws funds from POAC’s pool of grants and donations, and students are charged a fee. Paying the local creatives who take time to teach the courses, Christy noted, is a priority. 

“I try to make sure that the artists are compensated,” Christy said. “You need to be compensated for your skills and for coming in and doing all the work.” 

As the program develops a more defined footprint and classes are offered more consistently, Christy said she aims to lower participation fees by pursuing grants that would specifically support Expressions. 

Additionally, she said she plans to explore the possibility of offering summer courses, expanding class sizes, adding sessions for additional art forms like photography and offering courses centering on a variety of media simultaneously. 

That way, Christy said, students can discover their artistic niche, develop the skills necessary to express themselves, and once they leave the classroom, “go on to make everything in their imagination.”