Art teacher Shawn Rice shares a laugh with resident artist Irene Wanjiru at Edward Little High School in Auburn on Wednesday. Rice is the Maine Department of Education 2019 Androscoggin County Teacher of the Year. His students will spend five days with Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Edward Little High School junior Sophia Therrien, 16, receives advice from resident artist Irene Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya, at the Auburn school on Wednesday. Wanjiru and students found objects in the woods behind the school to create sculptures of wood and clay. Rice, second from left, said Wanjiru’s residency was made possible through the effort of Bates College Museum of Art curator William Low and a grant through the Spillway Fund. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Edward Little High School junior Sophia Therrien, 16, shows her art teacher, Shawn Rice, the clay sculpture she is working on Wednesday at the Auburn school. Therrien, Abigail Girardin, center, and their classmates have been learning from resident artist Irene Wanjiru, who is visiting from Nairobi, Kenya. Therrien’s sculpture is of an old man. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Resident artist Irene Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya, works on a sculpture while sitting on a piece of wood in Shawn Rice’s classroom at Edward Little High School in Auburn on Wednesday. Wanjiru will return to Nairobi Oct. 1 after her six-week visit to Maine. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Edward Little High School senior Colleen Basque, 17, carves a piece of wood at the Auburn school Wednesday using techniques she learned from resident artist Irene Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Resident artist Irene Wanjiru of Nairobi, Kenya, uses materials she and Edward Little High School students found along the Snake Trail behind the Auburn school for their art projects. She is teaching Shawn Rice’s honors art class students and students at Lewiston High School. Her six-week stay in Maine ends Oct. 1. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

Resident artist Irene Wanjiru’s mixed media map portrays how rapid population growth in Nairobi, Kenya, has put pressure on the city’s wildlife. She is spending six weeks in Maine teaching art before returning to Nairobi on Oct. 1. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal Buy this Photo