Art is life. Life is art.
Every semester of art classes at Appamada closes with an art exhibition. The students used to display their work for the school Expo Days, which was limited to peers and staff, but in the fall of 2022 we decided to open the show to friends and family. My goal has been for each art exhibit to be bigger and better than the one before.
Last semester ended with a bang as we incorporated an outdoor red carpet to showcase the students’ creations in Junior High Fashion Upcycling, as well as a Market Day to share the entrepreneurial skills of the High School #artsales class. I couldn’t be more proud.
In Fashion Upcycling, we transformed donated textile items. We started by making pillows from donated fabric scraps and learning sewing machine and hand-sewing techniques before moving on to creating a denim bag incorporating embroidery. We finished the semester with “Frankenstein” projects where we assembled a single wearable item from multiple pieces. What a great way to learn the life-long skill of sewing while reducing landfill waste and repurposing textiles into something new and exciting!
In the High School Open Studio, we fostered a supportive, creative environment as each student came up with an overall plan, including smaller goals that they would like to meet as they progressed. Open Studio remains my most popular class, as so many students love having the opportunity to create their own artistic path.
Junior High Everything Art was similar to an Open Studio environment as it provided plenty of time for the artists to pursue their own projects. However, we incorporated a bit more guidance by brainstorming specific skills we wanted to focus on during the semester. We concentrated on value and shading, and then moved on to creating backgrounds out of landscapes and urban environments, before moving on to explore the differences between watercolor and acrylic.
And finally, in #artsales, a high school class, we focused on the entrepreneurial side of the art world. Throughout the semester, we learned how to market ourselves and our artwork through branding, logo development, and social media presence, and how to use a spreadsheet for budgeting, pricing, and sales records. It was exciting to see the creation of an entire small business as each student chose what their products would be and created a brand, logo, and storefront. Through multiple fundraisers, we made a budget to purchase individual supplies with the goal of students making and selling their work at the end-of-semester Market Day. It was a huge success with multiple students selling out of their products and profits in the $100s for each student.
A huge thank you to all our families, fellow students, staff, and friends who came out in support of our talented Appamada art students. Hopefully, our next show will be just as successful. Even though we don’t have the #artsales class this spring, a number of students have expressed interest in continuing to create products for their store and other students have expressed interest in marketing their artwork, so plan to come out at the end of May for the next art exhibit and Market Days!
