In 1999, Ruth Miller plied her trade from a cart. It was a rather colorful cart — filled with crayons and pastels, paints and papers and projects galore, but she and her cart were cast adrift in the halls of Bath Elementary School. Miller was an art teacher without a classroom.

That was Miller’s first year of teaching art at the school, and now, 12 years later, she no longer wants for space. Her classroom is bright and airy; its white walls liberally splashed with her students’ work. Miller needs plenty of space because she teaches art to every student in the school.

“Ruth serves every child at our school, K–8. I think she’s a real unsung hero,” said Pam Hodges, the school’s principal. “I don’t think people have any idea how much time and effort it takes to work with all different levels, from the really talented students, to ones — like me — who can’t even draw a stick figure.”

Catering to all levels and abilities means Miller has to be adaptable, but it doesn’t mean she lowers her expectations.

“I have high expectations of my students and myself,” Miller said. “The philosophy is to do the best in all they do. They always rise to the occasion.”

For seventh-graders, that will mean learning the history of and creating African masks when they return from the Christmas break. The eighth-graders will study the art of Japanese paintings, while sixth-graders will be exploring Grecian urns, and shaping their own urns. The idea is to incorporate a little bit of history, a little bit of culture and a lot of creativity into every class project. Likely, those projects will end up displayed somewhere — at Lights of Love, the Beaufort County Arts Council’s annual Student Art Show, community concerts, BathFest and Belhaven’s Fourth of July celebration. Where there’s an event, Miller is likely showing off her budding artists.

As for her own creativity, Miller attributes it to a childhood spent in East Hampton, N.Y., a beach town she compared to Bath.

“There were no organized sports. We had to be really inventive,” Miller explained. “We had to be creative, so we were. It’s funny the things you look back on.”

That childhood spent inventing things to do and ways to entertain one’s self led directly to a career that, for Miller, came later in life, when her children were older and she could go back to school, to East Carolina University and a bachelor’s degree in fine arts. Miller’s every day is spent encouraging her many students to be just as inventive and creative.

“I just like to bring this joy to the children,” Miller said.