Students at La Conner Elementary School received a visit from U.N. Arts Ambassador Ibiyinka Alao from Nigeria on Tuesday, who gave the fifth-graders a painting lesson. The youth gathered around the table as he explained step-by-step how to draw and paint a nature scene with palm trees, a road and the sun.

Alao’s easygoing, big personality made students laugh with his quick jokes, and he told the students “at all times, you must make sure you’re smiling. Smile and your work should be fine.”

The fifth-graders then painted their own works of art after he finished teaching them. He remi...