I Could do This Again!

Finally, it is the week of our art show.  This is the first art show I have done in years.
(Usually...) art shows are a ton of thankless work! To save myself from a stressful situation:

1. I started saving work from the very beginning of the year.  This allowed for a greater variety.
2. Every piece has an artist statement with it.  It meant giving up a day to make, but they are a valuable part of the process.  (I love reading these!  I love seeing other people's reaction to reading these also.)
3. I started mounting artwork on colored paper 4 weeks before the show.  
4. I asked after school and late bus kids to help me put the artwork up in the hall.  We used hot glue.  I had two kids lining up work to be glued, two kids glueing and two kids bringing me work to put on the wall.  We easily blew through over 100 pictures in an hour.  (Which is great because I had 450+ pictures to hang.)

To my surprise, I am really feeling the love with this art show! The kids are really into displaying their work and showing support for their peers.  Teachers and parents have told me how great the halls look.(I agree!)  The work was fun because I involved the kids more than I have in the past.

Next time..

1. I will have kids help me mount the artwork also.  
2. I will ask the classroom teachers to do the artist statements in their rooms.
3. I will post even more photos of kids and spread it out among several walls!
4. I will enjoy the process, because this is good for kids and our art program.

This was a really positive experience.  I am thankful that I took a chance and did an art show.  I will definitely do this again.