The Spring Art Show

Wild for Art!

On April 12th, we had our very first Spring art show ever at Heathrow Elementary, where 400 students had artwork on display, with about 500+ projects total! We had collaborative murals, a glow in the dark stage with glowing, fluorescent artwork, and a variety of pieces ranging from clay, sculpture, drawings, paintings, collage, and more.

The show was a dream of mine for students to have the opportunity to see and feel the cultural, refreshing experience of an art show. Many students expressed that they didn't know what an art show was. Afterwards, students told me how fun it was to see not only their piece, but their friends' and other students' works, visit with their peers at the show, and be inspired.

The purpose of an art show is to allow the artist's ideas to be shared with others, experience art together, and discuss the impact of the pieces. I believe we succeeded in our practice of presenting our thematic artworks as a cohesive whole and reaching out to the community. The entire show's theme of the rainforest came full circle for many students as they experienced a variety of art projects by other grades all surrounding the theme. I watched students' awareness grow about environmental issues throughout the whole year. As an educator who believes in social and environmental justice, and teaching students to send a message in their artwork that is important, the art show was a display of the growth, understanding, and meaningful beauty that the children have created.

THANK YOU to every Dividend who volunteered on this project to make it the beautiful success it was. Thank you to Michael Nyman for the gorgeous photos of the show. Enjoy them!