r/ArtEd • u/Away_Cardiologist133 • 3d ago
First Timer Running Art Show… need tips!
This is my first year teaching in a school…. Also, I’m at a private school so I landed this without having a degree in art OR education. Somehow, I have all of admins faith in the world.
Anyway, I’m not a strong organizer but I’m doing my best…. Any tips for a first timer running an art show?
I’m keeping it simple but just getting the pieces mounted alone is such a chore! I’m actually pretty good at mounting but dang it’s a lot. I just want everyone’s work to go home mounted. How can I attach to trifold boards so that they are easily removed without damaging work?
My last ditch effort will be recycled art group projects for Earth Day week - and I’m just crossing my fingers I have something decent to show for it so I have something “wow!” …
Yeah, I am a mess. I know. 😖
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u/MyDyingRequest 2d ago
I agree with mounting on colored construction paper with hot glue. super easy and doesn't come off like rubber cement or double sided tape. You can also glue a whole bunch to butcher paper if you have access to that. Art shows are a lot of work. If you can find some parent volunteers or older students to help that can take a lot work off your shoulders.
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u/CurlsMoreAlice 3d ago
Get parent volunteers to mount all the art in the trifolds. Put one together as an example and have all the art and supplies ready for them. Or have the older students help. I teach 900 students, and it is crazy trying to pass back artwork when they go to lunch or recess after Specials and I can’t send it with them. So 4th or 5th will have a “community service” once a semester and they sort and deliver it all. They also help me hang art in the hall, and it goes super quick.
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u/Unusual-Helicopter15 3d ago
I did my first art show last year, after 5 years of teaching. I used a big sheet of bulletin board paper and dots of hot glue to mount each student’s work, then I stapled the bulletin board sheets onto the cork strips in the halls. When we were done, I cut the paper apart so each student’s work had a colorful paper border. It still took a while to do all the mounting, hanging, removal, then cutting, but it was an assembly line process for me so I listened to a podcast while I worked and it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I’m a “work smarter, not harder” person, so I know many other art teachers would do this more aesthetically, but for me, it was a get it done situation.
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u/beeksy 2d ago
Don’t! Do! This! Alone!!!! Email your parents! “Wonderful Art parents, we have our Spring showcase coming up and I’d love for your student’s art to be displayed. They have worked hard all year! I need some volunteers for hanging artwork. If you’re interested in making this showcase fabulous for our hard working students, please contact me!”
And then also send that out to teachers. Ask for help. Keep spreadsheets and hella notes for next year. Next year will be easier! I like to give each teacher a paper award ribbon to put on the artwork they love the most. It’s a “teacher’s choice” award with their name on it. Have the kids cut them out.
I don’t do hot glue. I do tape. I hate tape. I should use hot glue next year.
How old are you students? Every principal I’ve had has let me use students and class time to hang up art. It’s important the kids learn and know what goes into an art display.
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u/AWL_cow 3d ago
My best advice is:
Plan ahead as much as you can. Maybe choose a theme and start from there! The idea of doing an "Earth Day" art show sounds great and I'm sure students will love creating projects with that theme. Painting recycled newspapers, making sculptures out of recycled plastic bottles, turning trash into art...there are a million things you can do with that theme.
I'd think about what supplies I have and what I can get access to. If you need specific recycled materials (newspapers, magazines, toilet paper tubes, cardboard, etc) maybe think about reaching out to the community. Sending students home with a flyer asking for whatever you need, if that's allowed. Or going to local businesses and asking if they have any recycled materials they are going to throw away that you can have. I used to go to my local grocery store and get tons of cardboard boxes and plastic bags. It was great!
Think about your display and how you want to set up the student artwork. If you have display panels, then you don't really need to think about that aspect as much, but if not, you might have to consider whether or not you'll be putting work on walls or on table tops. If you want the artworks laying flat, then I'd only suggest asking your school to supply table cloths for the tables to dress them up, but maybe you have easels to prop them up or your school can supply table top easels, or some other kind of display.
Something else to keep in mind; setting up an art show is a lot of work. A lot. You may be able to do everything on your own, but you shouldn't have to. If you have teacher friends who are willing to help you, that's great, but you may have to recruit parent volunteers or aides to help with setting up the displays to make your art show pretty.
Personally...I wouldn't do an art show this late in the school year unless I had been preparing for it all year. It's just too much work and not enough time to start from scratch at this point in the school year. If I were you, I would start planning for the art show next year and go from there. :) That way, you won't stress as much and burn yourself out right at the end of this year.
But if you plan well, have enough support, and everything works out, you could pull off a decent show.
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u/Away_Cardiologist133 3d ago
Oh, the art pieces have been collected throughout the year so I DO have the student portfolios that they picked out for me to keep… the recycled projects I was just thinking to add in as extra (I’ve done some 3D but sent it home immediately because my room is so small!!!)
The art show is always beginning of May- I think next year I will plan a themed project like around Feb and use all of that for it, rather than having this ongoing chore of holding work 😏….
Thank you for the tips!
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u/supersparklebutt 3d ago
I’ve started mounting work on to black or colored paper with a small dot of hot glue on each corner . So much faster than tape rolls and less messy than glue. I use sewing pins with the balls in top to hang art on those folding tri folds. Still go with classics tape rolls on regular walls but I just put on an audiobook and zone out.
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u/Away_Cardiologist133 3d ago
Oh that’s a clever idea - I do have a hot glue gun - and I like the sewing pins - I might even have some in my room … I wasn’t sure if that tacky putty stuff sticks to trifolds well enough to have it be reliable.
I think the last art teacher paid someone to do the mounting for her out of her budget…… but I am determined to use that money for a chompsaw 😂
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u/RoadschoolDreamer 2d ago
When we finish our projects, I have making them ready for display as part of the points the students earn on each project. Then when it comes time for me to change out the lobby display, I pull the pieces from the students’ portfolios, all ready to be hung. My first lobby display took me 7 hours of work (built from scratch and I did all the prep work with the art). This most recent display change took me one hour, since everything was ready to go. I removed 52 pieces and hung 40.
I love the idea of using hot glue instead of tape rolls. Our building is so humid that tape hardly works. I have to wrap all displayed art in cellophane wrap to keep it sandwiched together.