Time to shine: AGIS students become museum worthy artists
It’s not every day a ten-year-old can say they have their art on display in a museum among world famous artists like Andrew Wyeth, but for 160 Avon Grove Intermediate School fifth-graders, it’s the truth.
Currently, the Brandywine River Museum of Art is displaying the paintings, drawings, and illustrations and other mediums done by AGI art students in their Imagine Brandywine student art exhibition.
Its inspiration stems from both the artwork housed in the museum - the Wyeth’s paintings of the Chadds Ford landscape - with the mission of the Brandywine Conservancy, which is the protection and preservation of open space, to create a focus on the quickly disappearing farms in the area.
Their work has been on display since November 8, when over 300 Avon Grove students and families attended the exhibition’s opening. It will continue to be on display until February 28.
“The museum opened its Imagine Brandywine student exhibition space two years ago, and has featured exhibitions from area schools including Avon Grove Charter School in West Grove and Kemblesville, Caln and Friendship Elementary Schools in Coatesville, and Garrettford Elementary School in Drexel Hill,” said Mary Cronin, Dean of Education and Public Programs at the Brandywine River Museum of Art.
According to Avon Grove Intermediate School art teacher, Mrs. Benjamin, AGIS was most recently contacted because students from the school were most prepared to engage in discussion about the art upon visiting the museum.
After being contacted, AGIS art teacher Mrs. Hallman took photographs of five area farms to depict their functions to the students. These photos, as well as the Wyeths’ artwork, acted as inspiration for the students’ own work.
While creating their art, students also learned about methods used by landscape artists, and used watercolors and water-soluble colored pencils as their medium.
At the end of the project, about ten works were chosen from each art class, to reach a total of 160, the maximum capacity of the Imagine Brandywine exhibition. Students whose artwork did not get chosen for the museum have their artwork on display in a similar fashion in the intermediate school, where it will also stay up until February, just like the museum display.
“The vast majority of our students are thrilled to have their work on exhibit at the Brandywine River Museum of Art,” said Mrs. Benjamin.
Currently, they are preparing for their Youth Art Month Exhibit in March, and also gathering work for the district wide art show, which is annually held at the high school each May.
Overall, the opportunity to display student work in the Brandywine River Museum has been a positive experience for the AGIS art department.
“Being asked to participate in a student exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum of Art was an acknowledgement of the students' engaging experience with the staff at the museum,” said Mrs. Benjamin. “It is also a reflection of the importance that continuing visual art experiences through a strong art curriculum and museum enrichment can bring to student learning.”
Imagine Brandywine is on display through February 28, 2016. Join us to celebrate these young artists.