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Art Show – Lessons Learned

5th Grade Oil Pastel Paintings inspired by Marc Chagall

I’m a “learn by doing” kind of person. And usually that means learning from my mistakes (i.e.what not to do!). But last week I had the rare privilege of learning from something that I unintentionally did right!!

Every Spring we hang an Art Show that coincides with our school’s Open House. In the past, I always saved everyone’s work throughout the year, and then chose each student’s best piece to hang in the Art Show. This way parents also got to see a sampling of all the projects we did throughout the year. Makes sense, right??

But this year was different. We chose instead to show one project from each class. So rather than every class displaying a variety of projects, this year we displayed 20 (or however many students are in each class) versions of the same project. We still have variety, as each class is presenting a different project, but the entire show has a more organized, less chaotic feel to it. And this way parents are able to see how each child had a unique approach to the same instructions. An additional benefit was that I was able to print out a small poster for each class project, with an explanation of our objectives, a short biography of the famous artist we learned about (with examples of his or her work), and a “faith application” (we are a Christian school) suggesting how this lesson could be applied to our daily lives. While none of these are the reason we planned our Art Show this way, they seem to be worthwhile changes. We’ve gotten such a positive response from our “new look” that we may choose to do it this way every year!

Now a question…. Our Art Show is hung in the lobby of our auditorium, so a couple of the classes have their work mounted to the walls and the rest are hung from cords across large windows, “clothesline style”. I would love to come up with a better way to display these pieces, so that the work can hang straight and not keep sliding together….. any ideas out there???


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9 Comments

  1. Hello! found your wonerful site recently, and thought it was time to say, “hello”. Maybe not for a window area, but ever thought of a 2×4 that is nailed to the wall with clothes pins hotglued on? You can hang pieces in a “pinch”.

    Erin

  2. What a fun idea! I don’t think our maintenance guys would ever let me do that, but what a great way to display art in a kid’s bedroom or play room!!

  3. saw you at the blog party, I LOVE ART! I just started my blog last month so I dont have alot of my work up but my art ranges from photography, abstract paintings to writing… hope to see you around

  4. Hello! Poppin’ in from The Ultimate Blog Party…all the way from Queensland, Australia! G’Day! I hope you have time to visit my party soon.

    I’m giving away Pink Champagne Shower Syrup from Jaqua Beauty…stop on over and enter! Ends April 8. Open to USA.

    Ta!

  5. I use a heavy weight black construction paper and “YES Paste” with a (cheap) stiff bristled brush. YES Paste is the BEST!! If you haven’t tried it yet, you will love it!!

  6. We ran thick rope across the room (from basketball hoops) and used continuous roll black paper. It created a “paper wall” that was stunning.

  7. Hi, thank you for your fabulously inspirational blog!
    I am a teacher from NSW in Australia and even though this is a reply to an old post, I thought I'd let you know that at our Art show, we suspended long strips of card from hooks in the ceiling and arranged the artworks vertically down them, according to class / grade. It looks very striking! It is also a great way to use all spaces in the room.
    :)