Educators know that visual arts are highly beneficial to students of all ages. Sisters School District honors this by offering a variety of artistic programs - including the 24th annual ARTifacts program held at Sisters High School Tuesday, April 18.

This event allowed high school students of all ages to showcase their hard work to their friends and family. Sisters High School hosted multiple observational art booths and hands-on art stations for community members to try. Potter's wheels, face painting, and sculpting stations were a few fun activities made available for participants.

Bethany Gunnarson, Sisters High School visual arts teacher, has also made it a goal to honor senior students' works in their own display.

"It was really cool just to show my mom what I'd been working on all these years," said senior Makenzie French.

It was not just the seniors who participated in the event. Many art students contributed their work, and over 40 youths volunteered.

Live music provided an entertaining atmosphere as families and community members explored the event. Performers from numerous musical groups in the high school participated, including Americana Project, Jazz Choir, Jazz Band, and Jazz Combo students.

ARTifacts has not always been this interactive. Gunnarson has been working toward involving people from the community in ARTifacts over the past five years.

"It used to just be students demoing their skills with less community involvement, but we changed that a couple of years ago so the community could interact and participate more," Gunnarson said.

The last few years' events have been on and off because COVID-19 forced a hiatus in the program in 2020. However, ARTifacts recommenced the next year and continued the tradition into 2023.

One primary goal of ARTifacts is to raise money that can go toward visual arts programs. This year, they did this through entry fees and their "Cash for Clunker" table, which sold pottery pieces from ceramics classes to attendees. A chunk of this money went toward the Sisters High School Art Scholarship, which allows seniors to get cash for future visual arts pursuits.

This event has come a long way from its debut in 1999. With more hands-on opportunities than ever, visitors of all ages enjoyed themselves at Sisters High School during this fantastic art-based learning opportunity.