For Fax Gilbert, the hands, arms and eyes speak as much as words.

Monday, the Iowa-based mime artist took Stoddard Elementary School students on a journey of imagination and illusion.

“We're now robots,” Gilbert told Michelle Blum's fifth-grade class at Stoddard.

As the class stood, he told them to think like a robot and move their head, arms and legs in deliberate motions.

“Make it look real,” he said.

Opening up children's minds to creativity is the goal for Gilbert, an Iowa mime artist and educator who is Stoddard Elementary School's artist in residence this week.

“I try to let them know how creative they are,” Gilbert said Monday afternoon. “I want them to have a good experience with self-expression and explore their creativity.”

Gilbert opened with a schoolwide assembly Monday morning and will spend time with each class at the Beatrice school until the grand finale at 1 p.m. Friday, when Stoddard fourth-graders and other students will perform.

The public is invited to the Friday program.

Fax grew up in Boston, graduated from Brandeis University and was the principle performer for the National Mime Theater Company. In 1990, he and his wife, Sharon, moved to Iowa, where he created FAX Gilbert Programs.

During the past 15 years, he has given more than 3,000 school assembly programs, residencies, teacher in-service programs, community concerts and corporate presentations.

He is on the rosters of the Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska arts councils and travels the Midwest full-time delivering a range of programs, including character education, creative dramatics and state history plays.

His programs use mime, masks, magic illusions and audience participation skits, all aimed at capturing students' attention and delivering strong educational messages.

“If you get them excited about it, that's half of it,” he said.

Gilbert spent the day Monday teaching students the elements of mime and using coins and rubber balls to throw in a few lessons on how to do illusions and how to read people's body language.

“There is a delay in what you see and what is actually happening,” he said, telling students about stars millions of light years away that can be seen now with the naked eye but which actually might not exist anymore.

Betty Replogle, Stoddard principal, said the Stoddard Parent-Teacher Organization has sponsored one or two artists in residency each year for a number of years. However, this is the first year that a mime artist has been the artist in residency.

Past artists in residency have included songwriters, storytellers, potters and bookmakers. In March, Julia Noyes, a mural artist, will be the school's artist in residency.

“Arts are very, very important at Stoddard,” Replogle said.

Funding for the artist in residency program comes from a $500 grant from the Nebraska Arts Council and funds the Stoddard PTO has raised at activities throughout the school year.

Replogle said Gilbert will work with each class at least twice, while he will work with fourth-graders three or four times. Each artist in residency program has a “core group” who has a special project as part of the program, and the fourth grade will spotlight Friday's final production.

Next month's core group will be the fifth grade.

Replogle said this week has already been successful.

“He has sparked everyone's enthusiasm and creativity,” she said.