What art pieces should you HOLD ON TO and what pieces should the kids HAVE to take home?
I know we all have endless amounts of art work being created and this is a huge question for me. Being pregnant has made me think of simplifying my classroom piles. This year I've been giving back almost all of the art work (with the exception of a few pieces for the district art show and one good project for the end of year show.) This has made my life so much more organized and peaceful!
These are textured pinch pots my bilingual 4th graders made after I was inspired by a blog post (was it yours?)
They came out so beautiful I really wanted to put them in the showcase to share.
But when I the kids saw them they had other plans. "I'm giving it to my mom for her birthday." "Are you going to let us take them home?" I just can't say no because I can imagine if it was mine. I would want to show my mom too instead of locking it up in a case for a few months. So now what am I going to show off in the case? Probably the group clay reliefs because no one is bringing them home anyways!
So my opinion on keeping art work? Grade it if necessary and give it to it's rightful owner. Kids move on quickly and in 6 months the art piece might not mean as much as it does to them today!
How much work do you save? Have you tried different ways of saving work and what works best?
5 comments:
I don't save work in a portfolio. I like the idea of one, but sending work home is my main way of communicating with parents. I keep stuff that I am putting in the hall or bulletin board, but then I send it home if I'm not saving it for the district show. We made woven bags in 4-5 right before Christmas, and I had to talk a couple of kids into leaving them. I could not make the kids leave the bags when they were all so excited about giving them as Christmas presents.
I just save work for upcoming shows, and a few select pieces to be framed for adding to our permanent "gallery" in the hallway. I photograph the artist and the piece, put it in a little frame, and send it home with the child so that they aren't too bummed to be missing the artwork. Evidently the school hall is a read badge of honor, because all kids aspire to have a piece there. But I do give the child a choice, so that if he'd rather take it home than hang permanently, that's OK.
I keep all 2D work in a portfolio because I want the kids to be able to pick when it comes time for the art show and other community shows. I would love to send them home as we go. How do you choose which ones to hold onto for a show? What if the students makes something that you like better? Do you let them take the other home at that point? I'm really conflicted on this because I want the parents to be able to see the progress, but not all parents come for parent teacher night. . .
I choose the whole classes best work. Then I hang the work as a class. If someone was absent or didn't complete it gets more complicated. Art shows are always so hard! I haven't perfected it yet. I would love other opinions on how to save too!
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