Courtesy photo Project participants are shown. From left are junior Makayla Viau, senior Dawn Hedberg, junior Jasmine Shaver and junior Rachael St. John.

BARK RIVER — Terra Stenberg, visual art and photography/graphic design teacher at Bark River-Harris, is wrapping up her second year of organizing a pallet fundraiser to purchase art supplies for her art department.

“Last year, around fall, I was trying to think of a meaningful fundraiser. Obviously, one that would give us extra funds for the art department, but I also wanted it to benefit my students artistically. Pallets are popular and I had painted a few for myself and thought it would be a great experience for my advanced art club students to work on something like this. They learn skills that are applicable to future assignments like the acrylic paintings we create. A family friend was kind enough to accumulate and prepare 20 pallets for us. I brought in the pallets and the drawing, designing, teaching and learning started,” she said.

As an introduction to acrylic painting, Stenberg has her art club and advanced art students work on the pallets. Students learn about prepping a painting surface in order to get it ready to accept paint. They also learn how to layer, blend and shade with acrylics; how important shading and blending is and how much it can add to a work of art; about color schemes, what works and what doesn’t; time management skills; how to work together with multiple students working on one pallet; and how art impacts everyday life.