Alva Review-Courier -

Artist Virgil Penner likes to tell people he's so sweet because he had eight years of Candy, Candy School that is. Growing up on a farm east of Newton, Kansas, he attended a one room school named Candy. He has lived around the Newton area all of his life.

In the seventh and eighth grades, Penner had a "grandma teacher," a woman who volunteered to teach when they couldn't fill the position. Twice a week, their teacher would have them go outside for an hour and look at nature. Then the students would come back inside and write a poem or draw a picture based on what they saw. "That really kind...