Show and Tell Art Exhibitions That Teach by Patrick Fahey Associate Professor, Art Education, Colorado State University
Student art exhibitions can be opportunities for heightened and more comprehensive learning about the process of creating art, including the cognitive engagement that happens during art making. For those not intimately involved in making or studying art — non-arts educators, school administrators, and parents, to mention a few — this understanding can be elusive when they only engage with a completed work of art. Art educators regularly display their students’ art within their schools, in annual district shows, and occasionally in venues outside their school. Putting an art exhibition together is certainly a manysplendored thing and most of those involved in presenting student art would agree the task can consume enormous amounts of time and energy. Exhibitions of student art can serve a multitude of purposes. They can be a platform to advocate for visual art; serve as an evaluation of the art program; educate the public and other school constituents about art; and invite and promote a connection with the larger local community.
24.
