Art at Mass Art!

Saturday was a great day ! I helped to hang the exhibit of art from TAB (teaching for artistic behavior) schools at the Arnheim Gallery at Mass College of Art in Boston. Kathy D. , Kathy V., Diane, Lucy, Ellyn, Yoshiko, Carl and myself spent 5 hours hanging over 300 pieces of art. There are 14 schools from 6 different states represented. The exhibit is on display from February 22-March 8, 2005. There are also two artworks from my students that will be on display in the lobby of the Hynes Convention Center where the National Art Education Association's annual convention will be held (Mar.4-8). How exciting!
The gallery of art looks AMAZING! It looks so much better than my annual art shows. Someone asked me if my students knew their art was in this exhibit. The answer is some do and some don't. I would mention it to them one-on-one in class when I saw a piece that I wanted to save. Some kids think it is for the spring art show in school. I don't teach in Boston so I wouldn't expect a student to see their work. I couldn't bring everything and I certainly don't want to make a student feel their art is not "good enough" . I really didn't have lots to choose from. Since I have switched to choice-teaching, the students have more ownership of their work and usually take what they make home. It is often a struggle for me to get them to leave their art at school. However, dislaying art work is also an important component of art making. I look at this exhibit as one for other art teachers to see what can happen in a choice art class.
Some things that I noticed while viewing the art:
1. The art could be created in any of our TAB classrooms. there is no "teacher's style" which is so prevalent in a traditional art room
2.There were common themes throughout the work.
Dragons are very popular.
Children love to paint animals, whales, dogs and friends.
Sports and superheroes are prevalent.
Young artists also love to work in an abstract way.
3. Children have the best ideas!

Kathy D. is creating a website with lots of pictures of the show. I will post a link when it is done. In the meantime, I will post some of my photos.