By MIKE ROSIER/Publisher

Published on Wednesday, March 3, 2010 - 1:06pm |

• Schools

Artist and children’s book illustrator Michael P. White says his career as an artist really took off once he let go of something he thought was important – his eraser.

“My art teacher in college told us to throw it away and never pick it up again,” he told students at W.E. Parker Elementary School last week. “Once you do that and see that you don’t need it the sky is the limit. Then you can do anything you want because it means that you don’t have to draw like anyone else.”

White spent several sessions in the school Media Center inspiring class after class with his beautiful drawings. But he didn’t stop there. His drawings all developed from a collaborative and interactive effort between the artist and the students.