Lori Remmel often reminds her students at Tamaqua Area High School that art is a way to get out something they’re feeling in a way that’s not toxic. Drawing or painting can be a way to express themselves in a healthy way.

Outside of the classroom, she puts that idea into practice, creating art as a way to show what she’s feeling.

“A lot of people when they’re getting frustrated or upset about something, they do something that’s not healthy for them. But art is definitely a venue that’s fully healthy, and great, you can express your ideas and do something productive,” she said.

The Tamaqua Community Arts Center is hosting a collection of those works throughout the month of October. On Wednesday, the community celebrated the opening, and many of her students were in attendance.

It features her sculptures, collages and photography, which carries messages about the effects of pollution, not only on the environment, but also on our physical and emotional well-being.

Remmel’s series, “I Can’t See You Through These Garbage Clouds,” is a collection of acrylic sculptures which look like intricate glass orbs. But she’s filled them with discarded materials like pieces of foil and soda cans, hardware, jewelry.

The environment also figures into the many collages and photographs which hang on the walls surrounding the orbs. Finding time outside of school to be a working artist sounds difficult, but Remmel refers to herself as “an insane art robot.”

Remmel didn’t just hang her pieces, she also expressed herself in laying out the gallery. She spent hours converting light panels meant for a ceiling into a place for the orbs to be displayed. The light shines up through the orbs, making them appear like jewels.

The Tamaqua Community Arts Center was founded to give the community a place to celebrate art, especially from local artists. Having a local artist display her work shows the talent that exists in the Tamaqua area, according to Leona Rega, the arts center’s executive director.

“Exhibiting Lori’s work really exposes the fact that we have a lot of very creative, talented artists in our areas, in our communities, and a lot of people don’t know their talents,” Rega said.

Current and former students came to support a teacher who they said impacted them in a lasting way.

Madison Valentine, a 2018 Tamaqua graduate, aspires to be a tattoo artist. She said Remmel made her want to study graphic design in college, so she has a basis on which to build her career.

“It lays out everything I need to be an artist — so I can take that anywhere,” she said.

Michael Breeden said Remmel inspired him to begin making jewelry, and he saw her have an effect on other students as well.

“She let us use our own minds to expand our art,” he said.

Remmel said she was feeling the love from her students past and present. She enjoys being able to share her passion with students and provide an example of how they can be an artist and an educator at the same time.

“To be able to show my students that you can have that art education career but also be an artist and express yourself — it feels cool and powerful in that way,” Remmel said.