A new exhibit in the lower level of the Regional Arts Center will give a glimpse into the creative world of students inspired by the ArtsSmart approach to teaching.

And they’re not students from Texarkana. They hail from the private St. Richard Catholic School in Jackson, Miss., where Kay Thomas, ArtsSmart’s visual arts consultant, taught teachers the ArtsSmart concepts in education.

It’s one of the schools Thomas has advised as a nationally recognized consultant. Thomas thought so much of the student work she wanted to show it here in Texarkana.

Fourth- through eighth-grade students from the school have 170 digital photographs, both black and white and color, on display, showing the wide range of ideas that spring from different basic themes.

“They have these different subject areas like silence, trees, edges, that they responded to,” Thomas said. Writing responses also were part of the lesson plan.

“This is from an arts-centered school,” said Thomas, noting the school added that focus to its subject areas after nearly closing due to poor enrollment. The school is now thought of as a model school in Mississippi.

And teachers from St. Richard and from Texarkana have developed a working relationship.

“They have a collaborative relationship. Mississippi teachers came to our Best Practices workshops and made courtesy calls to some of the campuses here, and then they visited them. It’s like teachers meeting each other and talking about their problems they have and how the arts help them reach kids,” Thomas said.

Teachers from a couple of Texarkana schools have also gone to St. Richard to see what they do with their curriculum.

Sharing the ArtsSmart approach, Thomas worked with Mississippi teachers and also modeled the lessons in the classroom.

Photographs taken by the students show just how many various ways a theme can be interpreted.

“Visiting Mississippi as much as I do, for a lot of these I see the impact of that culture. Hunting for everyone there in Mississippi is a huge part of their culture, as is being able to get out to the woods and land. And then you’re going to see some religious imagery in there because it is a Catholic school,” said Thomas.

Under the theme “rituals,” student photographs include subjects such as a king cake, a campfire, a religious statue and flowers.

In a different area, photographs explore the theme of “ugliness,” where student photos capture brown bananas, a koi pond and swamp muck, among other things.

“I thought some of them were really, really provocative and interesting,” said Thomas, noting it’s not just doing an art project for its own sake.

“It’s really a deep change in the philosophy of how they plan their lessons ... it’s really the thinking from the arts,” she said.

The ArtsSmart approach was connected to three or four different subject areas like science and social studies.

“And that’s the hallmark of really good art integration,” Thomas said.

She said the general public conceives of good art as something that simply happens because of the talent of the artists. But she believes differently.

“That’s not it ... it’s you practicing your craft of how you do your art. It’s also, what makes you a great artist is what unique do you have to say and how uniquely you say it,” she said, noting “there’s always an idea behind the art.”

She said some people believe artists are not thinkers.

“Artists think, in my opinion, more deeply and profoundly than most because we literally synthesize the imagery and the information of society. And our sort of human honey that we produce is art,” Thomas said. “So that’s what the little kids have here.”

The lower level at RAC has periodically served as a gallery space for ArtsSmart-inspired art, such as sculptures and drawings of math concepts.

The exhibit will be on display from Sept. 1 through Nov. 1. Admission is free. The Regional Arts Center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a 7 p.m. close on Thursday. The museum is also open before TRAHC shows at the Perot Theatre.

For more information, call Thomas at 903-792-8681.