What We've Been Up To--The Abbey Art Show

This series I had been posting got broken up by the unexpected family heart drama, but I want to go back and wrap it up, since I had most of the posts half written and I know my mother and maybe some more of you would like to see the last things I had intended upon sharing. And because my brain gets sad when things are posted too illogically. : )

double-click to embiggen if you care to read about the show's formal objectives and criteria, or if you want to see any of the following art pieces a little closer.

Merry's piece, entitled "New Life on a Spring Day"

Happy's piece, "New Life"

A different view of the piece, to show how the butterflies' wings add a layer of extra dimension 

Sunny's piece, "Morning Has Broken"

The artists the morning of the art show opening, with their pieces behind them

This show was so fun to organize, although it was a lot of work.  This was not just a show for the Vintage Homeschool kids, but for homeschool kids county-wide!  So it also served as a bridge-building event between our church and the un-churched local homeschool community--there were lots of families who participated, and who came to the opening party, who avoid churches and who had never set foot in the Abbey before.  They were all very positive about the experience, so I hope we helped generate some goodwill in the local community.

The artist/teacher who is the Art Director at the Abbey Coffee Lounge (the non-profit coffee shop that is part of our church) is a woman from church with whom I am friendly, so I had asked her last Fall if there would be a possibility of a homeschool art show sometime, and she said we could put up a show for Easter and leave it up the month of April.  So that was another bonus in my mind of the show's timing--the theme "New Life" allowed some of the Christian kids to be natural witnesses by making their art celebrate Easter and what Christ did on the cross for all peoples, but it also allowed kids to have more Spring-ish pieces or other creative interpretations of the theme.

When we were hanging the art, the Art Director said it was the best school show she has seen there.  I was so proud of the kids!  She also commented on how smart it was for me to have the two required elements to the show--the conceptual theme of "New Life" and also a construction theme of "layers"--because it likely led to more thoughtful, exploratory, and purposeful art.  I was so glad to hear that, because that was exactly why I did it.  Knowing the homeschool families who would likely be participating, and how child-led their schooling is, I knew there was a real possibility some kids might scribble with crayons and call it a day and their parents would submit it to the show.  So, I purposefully made the requirements more stringent to keep that from happening, and I was so glad to hear a "real" artist affirm that call.  My decision to use the black matte boards for visual cohesion also worked really well--look at how fabulous and "serious" the kids' works look on that wall!  (There was another whole wall of art as well in the hallway leading to the church offices, but since my kids did not have art on that wall I was not including those pics here.)

This was the first time I ever curated an art show, and it was so rewarding!  To be honest, it was such a hard Spring for me it felt really good to have one thing work out well--to feel like all the time and energy put into something was worth it.  Let's just say, I poured my self into other things this Spring that did not end up being rewarding, and were even a little soul-sucking.  So looking back on this event makes me happy.

(Although I should also say that the whole taking down and parents picking up their art aspect has been a nightmare, involving many hours and much fruitless planning on my part, and it is still not over--there are STILL three pieces of art sitting out in the upstairs church office hallway over the Abbey, which of course I feel still responsible for, and am worried custodians or other church people might end up annoyed over, and which of course I tried to hand over responsibility for to the parents multiple times. . . but even if the parents have had plenty of warning, and the show has been over for a month now, how can I just stick their children's masterpieces in the trash?  Sigh.  Just goes to show there are often a lot more hours of involvement and psychological weight behind one little date on my Spring plan.)

Still, I'll choose to remember just the fun and good in this event. : )  It was so worthwhile.