Artist~Teacher... tishalou

I have been so far behind on posting and not sure where to start! So thanks to Phyl at There's a Dragon in My Artroom for starting the topic of District-wide art shows.

Here are posts about last year's Art Festival in my county.

Each year in Fauquier County we have a county wide show where art teachers from our 11 Elementary Schools, 5 Middle Schools and 3 High Schools display work they have chosen. It is billed as an Arts Festival so it also includes music and choral performances. I think these are on a volunteer basis of the music teachers. Each art teacher is tasked at bringing cookies, crackers and Ginger Ale for punch.

For the past three years that I have been in the county the show has been at Kettle Run HS because it was just built and the county wanted to show it off. It is also where our 'lead art teacher' works. We also have a traveling art show where each teacher brings 6 pieces of artwork and it gets divided into 3 different shows. These shows travel to different schools throughout the year to showcase work from around the county. All 3 shows come back and are displayed at the Art Festival as well.

Since I started I have been of the opinion that each school should showcase their program and keep their school's work all together in one place. Currently each teacher mounts their work and then it gets hung anywhere within the main hall or gym of the HS. The HS Art students help hang the work - so a lot of times even the art teacher that brought the work does not know where the work is hung. This causes problems when the student and their whole family come to see the work and it cannot be found. In the past it was done this way so that parents would look at all the work and not just their child's. I don't think you can force people to look - and they are there to see and support their child's work and school.

Here are pictures of my display all in one place on 1/2 inch foam core boards.

The Fauquier County Arts Festival was April 16th and 17th this year. The week before the 4th grade music performance and the same weekend as the VA Sports Complex Frozen Ropes Baseball tournament in Ruthgers Glen, VA - outside of Richmond. Needless to say I was a little stressed and very busy!

I had a parent helper create my invitations that tell the students which of their artwork was selected. This is a big step for me - I usually do everything myself and I am proud to have made this small step in delegating and asking for help. So the rest - selecting the work, mounting the work, labeling the work, displaying the work - was all that was left for me :-) It was a great success and I wish I had gotten more pics of the display! Here is the poster that was created by a Kettle Run High school design student. Loved it! The theme this year was Art & Soul.

His work will go on to be displayed at the Virginia School Board Office in Charlottesville as well as at the Virginia Assembly in Richmond. Here is his piece - contour line drawing with different black pens then painted with liquid watercolor - choosing warm and cool colors to set off the plants from the background. Here is the work and his cool certificate:

There is a bit of a battle going on between the art teachers about keeping the school's work together. I am one who believes it is easier for me and easier for my parents to find their child's as well as their neighbors and child's friends work if it is together as a school. The way the other teachers do it is bring all the work and then hang it all willy nilly so nobody even the art teacher knows where it is hung because HS volunteers hang it. Then you get angry parents, damaged and lost work. Their theory is that people will look at more work if they have to hunt for their child's work among all the work hung. I like to know who comes and I want to see the student's face when they describe the lesson and show off the work to their family. If people have time they will stay and look at everything else, but if their child's work is there - they want to find it take pics and then browse if they don't have to rush off to the next child's event. Enough about that here are some pics of my display - all together - easy to find and easy to put up and take down - and easy to display once I get back to school - as I have had it in the hallway outside my door.
 Luckily my principal was attending and helped me deliver my display back to our school, which happens to be right behind the high school where the art show was. The I rushed home to let the dogs out and hopped in the car and got to the last few innings of the first game of the baseball tournament!

As part of our county wide art festival this year there is going to be a teacher show. I have been debating on what to frame. I really like some of the photos I took at my dad's last summer. What do you think? I usually take all these cool pics and they never leave my computer.