Please Come to the Beautiful, Fun Art Show

    > Please Come to the Beautiful, Fun Art Show

6/29/2021

The second edition of C&C’s Portfolio series explores how the 2018–2019 VsM Group planned The Art Show to share their painting work with the greater community.

Published in fall of 2020, City and Country School’s second Portfolio features 18 works of art, one from each student in the 2018–2019 VsM. Though they are beautiful representations of each child’s world, the aesthetic value of the art pieces is not the focus. As Jane Clarke, Director of Lower School, said, “The preparation for the show, and how the children learned with and from each other during that process, are what made The Art Show so important.”

In addition to the artwork, children’s tickets and invitations are featured, as are statements by Jane and VsM Group Teacher Mona De Victoria, with quotes from C&C educators to frame the importance of the work that went into the show. As IVsL Group Teacher Liana Stampur wrote, “The Vs’ Art Show involved developmentally appropriate math explorations, literacy, arts, and social-emotional work. The Vs had a physical experience that led them to both a deeper understanding of what they know and a deeper curiosity about what they don’t know.” 

That curiosity is revealed through some of the questions the VsM asked during their preparations for The Art Show:

VsM Planning Questions

  • How will people know about The Art Show? Should we put an ad in the School Newspaper?
  • What should everyone wear to the show?
  • What if visitors break the rules? What are our rules?
  • Can we play music at The Art Show—as a band?
  • Could we make a ticket booth at the woodworking bench?
  • Could there be doughnuts? What about sparkling water?

“I so enjoyed seeing the Vs’ work displayed with imaginative titles for each beautiful painting, together with their self-portrait collages that we made during our Art time together. Each self-portrait has such an individual character and expresses so much about each child’s personality—as well as showing a bit about how the Vs see themselves within the Group.”

—Molly Herman, Lower School & VIIIs Art Teacher

Article continues below.

The C&C Portfolio series kicked off in spring of 2016, with a Council for Advancement and Support of Education Award-winning entry on a VIsE Study of neighborhoods, garbage, and recycling. The students’ Study led to the entire Group drawing a picture of Chinese artist Xu Bing’s Phoenix installation, which was created from recycled materials. 

Each C&C Portfolio is a limited-run publication that describes C&C’s program in a more visual manner than our other publications. One hundred copies of “The Art Show” were created; some were given to 2018–2019 VsM families and others will be used to promote and explain our innovative program beyond C&C. Outside educators will be sent the Portfolio, and copies will be kept in the Admissions Office to share with prospective families.

Watch the VsM sharpen their math skills while counting tickets, and see them prepare for their celebration with the C&C community. A video from The Art Show can be viewed online: cityandcountry.org/videos.

Click here to read the full article, including images and interactive links, in Issue IV of our magazine, Works in Progress.