This project has positively impacted our Title 1 campus in such a big way! Students are excited to see their work displayed professionally and it has even become a classroom incentive for them to get their artwork completed with effort to be showcased in the gallery. Teachers and adults who enter our building are now able to see the amazing things that have been happening in the art room. Before the frame gallery, I had a very difficult time trying to swap out student artwork and hated damaging the beautiful pieces of art when attaching them to the wall. Although I am still working on expanding the gallery program, and originally it took much longer to acquire the frames I am very happy with having the frames displayed in three different places at our school. The frames are currently displayed along our two main hallways and in my art room display windows(I always struggled with displaying work because I did not have a way to stabilize the pieces). Eventually, the frames will be securely attached to the walls, but for now, I'm enjoying the ease of switching out the work and moving them around as needed. So many students will be recognized for their art this year and in the coming years, that the total number of students impacted will grow exponentially and everyone who works at and enters the building will also be affected by the positive change that the gallery frames have created for our campus.
I have teachers stop me in the hall all the time and tell me how much they love the displayed artworks in the rotating gallery. They often ask me about how students created certain works, and most of the time they can't believe that our youngest artists created some of the more challenging-looking pieces. Students also share their excitement for their work being shown with their homeroom teachers and there have been a lot of great conversations between students, teachers, and myself about what they created and why as the students enter the art room for class. All of these conversations help not only motivate students to keep creating but also validate and promote our art program's purpose, showing student talent. Before Christmas break, I saw a group of second-grade students walking back to their classroom stop and have a conversation about the artwork in the gallery. As I watched them for a moment, I saw one of my students become very excited and her face lit up as she recognized that one of the pieces was hers. She began to talk with the other students about what she used and the details of her work and I could see the sense of pride on her face. I am working on a better system for the name labels and qr codes for feedback and will keep working to improve my current system, but linking the students to their individual Artsonia gallery allows viewers to leave comments and view the artwork title and artist statements. This just builds onto the gallery viewing and builds a strong foundation of confidence for our young artists. To stretch this even more, students whose artwork is displayed earn them two awards. An SAE award (a students achieving excellence award) which is acknowledged by our principals and they will also be awarded another special award during our end-of-the-year award ceremony. Our students love getting recognized and my artists who have already earned an SAE for having their work displayed become so excited, they usually come to pay me a visit as soon as they recieve it because they were not expecting to get it. Overall, the gallery frames have changed the atmosphere of our campus hallways and have brightened up our school. By showcasing student art at the primary level in this professional way I hope students will stay encouraged to create as they grow.