Talk about Art

Nobody likes deprivation, being without, suffering a lack of something needed.

But sometimes, our very hardships are what make the difference, prompting us to wrack our brains for a creative solution. This is the option Walla Walla artist David Partridge took 60 years ago when his 4th grade teacher assigned the class to each carve a buffalo out of Ivory soap.

"My family did not have the money for a bar of Ivory Soap," Partridge recalls. "The teacher, Mrs. Hill, wanted to know what I was going to do for a grade. I told her I was going to do a painting of a buffalo."

So impressed was Mrs. Hill b...