Three decades of coloring outside the lines

The Pend Oreille Arts Council invites the community to celebrate the creative legacy of longtime educator and artist Randy Wilhelm with "Three Decades of Coloring Outside the Lines," a post-retirement retrospective exhibition honoring his 27 years of teaching art at Lake Pend Oreille High School.

Born and raised in Sandpoint, Wilhelm is a rare local whose life and career have remained deeply rooted in the community. He taught art in the very building where he once attended elementary school, just down the road from where he grew up, making his teaching career both a professional calling and a full-circle personal journey.

This exhibition focuses on the artwork Wilhelm created alongside his students, presenting his own interpretations of classroom assignments developed over nearly three decades of teaching. From scratchboard and ceramics to papier-mâché, pastel, acrylic, and watercolor, the works are whimsical, strange, thought-provoking, and memorable, mirroring the curiosity, experimentation, and creative risk-taking he encouraged in his classroom. Anecdotes displayed alongside the pieces offer visitors insight into what it was like to teach, learn, and create together.

“Randy Wilhelm has spent decades building a legacy as an artist and teacher that truly makes him a homegrown hero,” says Kristen Oliver, a former student and teaching aide at Lake Pend Oreille Alternative High School. “I had the distinct honor of being in his classroom more than 20 years ago as a student, and in recent years as his teaching assistant. This Sandpoint-born educator helped usher literal generations of students, many of whom were seen as unreachable, through earning their high school diplomas. More often than not, it was Randy’s character, kindness, and steadfast encouragement, often through creative outlets, that ignited a passion for learning and success. It’s tremendous to finally see Randy’s legacy, and the decades of LPOHS students he impacted, honored in this way.”

While Wilhelm is well known for his beloved Sandpoint series and his depictions of scenery, wildlife, and fish, this show highlights a different side of his practice: art as a teaching tool, a conversation starter, and an invitation to engage. 

“I always told my students, ‘I don’t care if you love it or hate it, as long as you can’t walk by it and ignore it,’” Wilhelm says.

“Three Decades of Coloring Outside the Lines” is Wilhelm’s first retrospective exhibition, marking both a celebration of his retirement from the school district and his continued connection to arts education. Though retired from full-time teaching, Wilhelm remains active in the local arts community and currently teaches through POAC’s Expressions youth program.

The exhibition opens with a public reception Friday, Feb. 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the POAC Gallery, 313 N. Second Ave., Sandpoint. Wilhelm will be present at the opening reception. The show will remain on view through the end of February. Admission is free and open to the public.

For more information about the exhibition or POAC programming, visit www.artinsandpoint.org or call 208-263-6139. To view more of Randy Wilhelm’s artwork, visit www.RandyWilhelmArt.com.