By SUE RYAN
News staff writer

Children swarmed around Sarah Starr this week in Parkdale and Pine Grove schools.

The artist drew them in the way a blossom invites bees. Her attraction wasn’t a pocket full of sweets but rather strips of newspaper and buckets of glue.

She held their attention as she explained the project at hand, which was creating masks from paper-mache. This scene has repeated itself numerous times during the 17 years Starr, of Hood River, has been living and teaching art in the Columbia Gorge.

“Art is essential and central to human beings,” she said. “In schools, art in residence programs are great but I see the kids hunger for more.”

The children ply her with questions during her classroom visit, and let go while getting messy at the same time.

Parkdale teacher Staci Schmidt loves Starr’s visits, which she said provide the class with formal instruction from an artist who is an expert in her field.

“The kids love it, no matter what she does,” Schmidt said.

Last year Starr taught watercolors. This year the choice is paper mache. Children watched carefully as Starr instructed them how to dip and lift their strips as they apply three layers of newspaper to their mask mold.

“Paper mache is like clay and you can sculpt it,” Starr said.

Faces rise from the layers as children add more details. Starr shows techniques for how to form a mouth, add a mustache, how to drape some hair. Masks emerge with characteristics as individual as each child in the classroom.

That energy of innovation powered Starr toward a career in art. She said she was drawn to the creative elements from an early age.

“Sharing that part of myself is very satisfying,” she said.

She went further when she decided to pursue studying art therapy. Her master’s degree courses demanded combining training as a counselor and work in psychology with her skills and experience as an artist. She became one of a handful of art therapists in the Gorge.

“It’s not just a teaching tool but a way for people to heal and grow,” Starr said.

That training aided her during her own time of healing when a thumb was amputated a year and a half ago following a horseback riding accident. She talks freely about the incident and said the students bring up their own experiences when they notice her hand.

“They are very compassionate and it creates a bonding experience with the children,” she said.

She bonds with them as well advocating that art is essential to a child’s development. When Starr first arrived in Oregon, cutbacks in funding for schools had wiped art programs from most of their curriculums.

While Hood River County has been active in supporting arts in the classroom, that hasn’t been the case for all communities. Starr believes this has hurt students’ development.

“I feel as though creativity is one thing that keeps people healthy and helps children form their identities,” she said.

“I think that children can be harmed in the long run because of a lack of art — children need to be exposed to it.”

Back in the classroom, Starr helped Ana Maria Mendiola smooth layers onto her mask. Mendiola held her hands above the desk while dripping glue.

“I’m an artist,” she said.

“We all are,” Starr replied.