The Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson said goodbye to photography teacher Charlie Schwarz this week with a visual display of respect and affection.

More than 70 former students contributed their artwork -- everything from photos to sculptures to a dentist's slides of his patient's teeth -- for an exhibition in honor of Schwarz, who is retiring after having taught photography and other arts-related subjects in the Baltimore County school system since 1970.

Schwarz, whose last day was yesterday, balked at the thought of a show in his honor. But after viewing the exhibition, he was humbled to see how students applied his lessons about finding a style and expressing themselves through art.

When drawing and painting teacher Terry McDaniel suggested the exhibition, "I said, 'No, I'd rather not,' " said Schwarz, 57, who taught the mandatory foundation drawing class at Carver in addition to photography. "But she went ahead and did it anyway.

"Now that the show is up, it is really fulfilling. ... It is nice to see how [the participants] have grown and how they've changed."

During the last week of school, black-and-white and color photographs, realistic and abstract paintings, drawings, sculptures, collages -- even a lamp -- were on display in the hallways and the lobby of the school.

"He is an outstanding teacher," said Carver Principal Joseph S. Freed, who helped bring Schwarz to Carver in 1994 after 23 years as an art and photography teacher at Parkville High School. "This man has been an inspiration."

"He lived for the job," said Jeff Jordan, a sophomore studying telemedia at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. "Looking at his students' work, you can see how great a teacher he is."

Many of the students taking part in the tribute now attend art colleges. During Schwarz's tenure, two of Carver's five Presidential Scholars were recognized for their photography. Some students went on to art careers, including Jonathan Maxwell, who designed the lobby of the Charles Theater and started a custom furniture studio in Baltimore.

One of Schwarz's first students, Michael Gilbert, taught calligraphy at the Maryland Institute College of Art for 16 years before opening a gallery in Harford County that makes and restores frames.

Gilbert and Schwarz have remained close, and when they paint in public, Gilbert said, children tend to crowd around Schwarz's easel, where he is happy to answer their questions. "A class forms right where he is standing," Gilbert said. "Charlie is still the best teacher I ever met."

Other former students make art as a hobby, but still appreciate the education they received. One man designs and builds medical testing equipment, but has kept up with photography after school. Another student, from an adult-education class that Schwarz taught, is a dentist. He sent in slides of a patient's teeth, which the show organizers blew up to poster size for the exhibit.

"He's an amazing cheerleader," McDaniel said of Schwarz's supportive style. "He also pushes the kids not to be satisfied. ... He's always getting them to take it to the next level."

Schwarz says that's not always easy.

"One of the hardest things as a teacher is to help [students] find a direction."

Schwarz said that if somebody had told him when he was in high school that he would become a teacher, he would have laughed at them. He studied illustration for four years, but then decided he wanted to get into a program that offered a degree. He transferred to Maryland Institute College of Art and took education classes, which led him into a teaching career.

Now it is time to move in a new direction.

"I want to do some of my own work," said Schwarz, explaining that he is too busy at Carver to focus fully on his art.

He also wants to build furniture, travel, sleep late, work on his home in Parkville, eat better and exercise.

"I have enjoyed working here. It is such a stimulating environment," said Schwarz. He recalled excitedly that one freshman this year went from a 99 on her first portfolio to a 100 on her second and told him, "You don't know how much that one point means to me."

That desire to excel "is why I love my job," said Schwarz.