BIDDEFORD — On Thursday at North Dam Mill, a fifth-grade student was being carefully monitored as he lit up a soldering iron and used it to weld a ring he had just completed in a jewelry-making class.

In another room, students were being taught the fine art of calligraphy, and in yet another room, students were stitching together material to create their very own handmade books.

In all, about 75 fifth-grade students from Kennebunkport Consolidated School, the Sea Road School in Kennebunk and the Mildred L. Day School in Arundel were participating in a variety of arts classes at the Heartwood College of Art.

All of the approximately 300 fifth-graders in RSU 21, which includes Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, will attend the art school this week. The last group meets today.

This is the seventh year that art teach Darlene Nein has taken her students to Heartwood.

The program, funded by the Education Foundation of the Kennebunks and Arundel, began when Heartwood was located in Kennebunk. Last year, the school moved to its current location in one of Biddeford’s former textile mills.

“This is a new experience” for the students, “to come to a real art school and work with other artists,” said Nein. “It’s also a chance to work with other students” from other schools.

She said she started the program because “I want them to realize the importance of art.”

Visual arts can teach problem-solving skills, said Nein, like for painters who might need to figure out how to move the paint in a different way to create the effect they want.

Art also provides a place to “experiment and take risks,” said Nein. “Kids don’t have a lot of opportunity to do that.”

She added that she “loves” Heartwood’s new location.

There’s an “energy” at North Dam Mill, said Nein, that comes from the other artists and artist galleries located on site.

Heartwood College of Art has five studio spaces at North Dam Mill, said college President Berri Kramer. Classes for the fifth-graders were conducted in each of the studio spaces as well as a large open space in the former mill building.

The art program is important for the students, who get to learn from working artists, said Kramer, and many of the students who have gone through program treasure their creations for years.

Recently, said Kramer, a mother of a former student asked her how to repair a turtle her daughter had made in the art class at Heartwood because the girl wanted to take it to college with her.

Plus, the program is fun, she said.

On Thursday, said Kramer, “One kid said, ”˜This is the best school day I’ve had all year.’”

Providing this artistic experience to young people is also in keeping with the college’s mission.

“We want to inspire the next generation of artists,” she said. “If they don’t do something like this, there will be no next generation” crafting art work.

In the future, said Kramer, she hopes to work with other schools in the area, too.

“We have the model,” she said, adding that she could work with Biddeford or other interested schools on finding ways to fund the art program.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 324 or [email protected].