Art Show Secrets (Ep. 459)

Welcome to Art Ed Radio, the podcast for art teachers. This show is produced by The Art of Education, and I’m your host, Tim Bogatz.

Last week’s episode was about advocacy as part of youth art month, and the other thing that I think so many of us associate with youth art month are of course art shows. So I wanted to talk today to a pair of art show experts, Jenn Russell and Sarah Krajewski, who just happen to be the stars of the Art of Ed’s YouTube series called Art Show Secrets. It follows both of those teachers, Jenn teaching at the secondary level, Sarah at elementary. And we see them over the course of the entire year as they set up for their art show in the spring. And the series has all kinds of great behind the scenes looks and some confessionals. A good look at their art show, and it does a great job of documenting the art show experience from the perspective of the art teacher. Quality reality show, which I don’t say often. And it’s really very entertaining.

I want to talk to them today about their experiences with Art Show Secrets, what’s going on with this year’s shows, maybe some tips and tricks about what they’re doing with art shows and things that they’ve learned from experience that they may want to pass along. So excited to hear from both of them today in separate interviews. Now, if you have not watched Art Show Secrets, you can go find that on the Art of Ed’s YouTube page. I will also link it in the show notes. But you can give it a watch and then you can like and subscribe, which I’m always told that’s what you’re supposed to do on YouTube. So just passing that along for you. And then we are, like I said, going to talk to both of those teachers. So let’s hear from Jenn now, and after that we will hear from Sarah. All right. Jenn Russell is joining me now. Jenn, how are you?

I’m doing great. How are you?

I’m doing great also. I’m glad we have a little time to talk about art shows today. And I guess I’d like to start with Art Show Secrets and just hear about that from your perspective, I guess, because I’ve always thought to myself, if there were any art teacher I know who should be in a reality show, it would be you. And we got a glimpse of that with Art Show Secrets. So can you just tell me … I don’t know. What that experience was like for you, and how it is I guess, watching yourself on a show? I’m just curious about all of that.

Yeah. Honestly, it was a great experience. I knew I was a type B teacher, okay, full disclosure. But I didn’t know how far in the well of the type B I was until someone was like, “Hey, you have to organize your thoughts.” And I was like, “What do you mean?” And then document it so that people can see and follow what you do. And I was like, “Hey, so this is why I’m not a great example, because I just do things.” And then I’m like an ask for forgiveness later, things just show up on my campus, and everybody just knows that, hey, there’s like an art thing happening. And I was like, “It happens around the same time every year in some way or another.” But no one had ever asked me how I do things and so it really forced me to stop and plan out and see like, oh, is there something else I’d like to add? And of course all the things I wanted to add because I’m like a big idea dreamer. Then I had to figure out how to do ahead of time, which again, it’s not my strong suit.

And so I was like, “Oh wow. Okay.” So everything that could have not happened or that could have gone wrong did go wrong, which honestly, you’re right. If anybody deserves a reality show for the calamities, it’s me. It is me. Yeah. If you have not seen it and you want a good chuckle, feel free to follow my journey. I’m trying to get art display boards. Which spoiler alert just got here a year later. So if anybody was really hanging on, I finally have a full set. Finally.

I was going to say, we have a resolution finally.

Yes. You heard it here first folks. Maybe that could be like your little hook for this episode. But yeah.

There we go.

But it was a great experience overall. I liked it.

Good. Good. I’m glad to hear that. We loved watching it. It was super enjoyable. I’m actually thinking we need to revisit it now that our show season is here again. So what’s happening for you with this year’s show? Were there lessons learned after you had to record yourself and plan things out and organize your thoughts? Did that affect things going into this year’s show? Are you doing anything differently?

100%. I learned A, so much and then B, I was like, okay, so I really … The thing about our high school is that it’s a small city. We are not in a small town. Our high school itself is a small city. There’s 4,000 children, there’s 250 staff members. It is a lot. So know like everything’s bigger in Texas. Yeah. That’s where we’re at. And so it takes a lot to run that and there’s constant date changes. And so for me, I thought that if I locked down the date, I would be good to go and everything else would just fall into place. But it turns out that the date is not as much of a big deal as I thought. And so those are just things that I learned along the way.

And so now my admin is like, “Okay. When is that going to happen and where is it going to happen?” And now I’m choosing the date instead of a year before and getting my heart broken every time it changed, I’m like, “Okay. We can look at that in April.” So that’s a little bit of stress off my back. And then I’m focusing more on like my kids and just making some things a little bit more interactive for them instead of just a display. I focus a lot on like our AP students because this is really the culmination of like three years of work for them.

Yeah. Absolutely.

And so you know what used to be solely an AP focus I added last year, like everybody else. And we still had our midyear show, so that really helps. But I’ve been just hoarding stuff now. Hoarding work instead of trying to chase some for it. Which I did a little bit last year, but we’re still doing it during the day, but now it’s going to be up for multiple days so that everybody can bring their classes down. Because trying to do something after school in our campus is just hard.

Well, and everybody has their own things to do after school, and so it’s tough to get your audience there.

Right. We see it with open house. Our attendance at open houses is rough. And so we just made it open. We’re making it open a couple of days during the school day. And so teachers really like having something to do near the end when after we’ve taken all our AP tests and we have a little bit of lag time and we’re like, “What are we going to do?” And magically, everybody wants to do projects during that time. So the art hallway is really busy with traffic. With the common questions like, “Hey, we need glue.” Which isn’t a question by the way. It’s just a demand that I do not answer to. So they really like having something to do with their students and they really look forward to it. I’ve already gotten questions on it. So just what I wanted to be like this big night involving the community still involves the community just in a little bit of a different way because of how our community functions.

Okay. And you just mentioned real quickly that you’re making it more interactive for your kids. What does that look like for you?

Yeah. So I realized that … And I’ve been working on this and I’ve talked a little bit about this in several Art of Ed different venues. I, over the last few years, I’ve just realized that my kids are kids. I know I call them kids, but they are kids. And so giving them the opportunity to participate in art, even if they haven’t had art, really entices them. I used to years ago have my drawing students create a coloring book. And so we are going back to that with my advanced students. And so I’m putting together a coloring book and it’s just really easy. And again, call it a waste, but you know what? We need something fun. And so I’m just running off like these little packets of coloring sheets that the kids can pick up. Like, “Hey, thanks for coming to my art show. Here’s a little souvenir.”

I consistently open myself up to donations from parents. And so I have these bags and bags of crayons and so we’re making like little crayons just in different little shapes of silicone molds. I have 18-year olds and they like that. And so just something for them to do while they’re there. They also have a big wall that they can draw on. Risky.

Oh, that’s fun.

Oh, I understand. A little risky with high schoolers.

True.

However, for the most part because I just want it to be one giant doodle mural, you too can make art. We are all artists. Leave your mark. The dot. So we are going to have that as well so that they can say like, “Hey, I was here,” and leave it up through the end of the year. So that’ll be part of that. So they can feel included in the art making, the mark making. We also have … I make sketchbooks every year. Every year. And I just have boxes of sketchbooks that I have made as a sample. Like a demo.

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

And then never do anything with them. So I’m bringing the box out and having them like, “Hey, if you want a sketchbook, feel free to take a sketchbook or draw in this.”

Oh, very cool.

So that we could add it to our sketchbook library that … More kids are keeping their sketchbooks instead of leaving them with me, which I love. I love. But I definitely want to revamp my sketchbook library. Just interactive in just three little ways that really aren’t labor-intensive for me, because that’s a thing that I realized I have cool ideas, but that’s a lot of work on me. So that aren’t supremely labor-intensive, but will make a bigger difference.

Yeah. Very cool. Now, I guess before we go, I would just love to hear a story from you. It’s getting to be art show season from so many people. So either a really good story, a successful story about you advocating or something cool that’s really happened or a big benefit to your art show. Or on the flip side, any horror stories that you love to share? People love to know those and people who are listening like to know like, “Oh, I’m not alone. I’ve also had crazy things happening in my show.” So either good or bad. Is there a story that you could share with us?

Yes. I say that I’m like a hippie art teacher, like your friendly neighborhood hippie. But I would like people to understand where I am. I’m the Dallas Fort Worth area in a suburb. So really my version of a hippie just is a very involved school-spirited person because all my kids hate being involved in school even though that they’re in like 700 different activities. But I consistently talk about your voice. I also teach AP art history, so I constantly drone about symbolism and putting things in your art and what do you want it to say all of the art teacher spiel. And someone asked me, actually not that long ago … It was like two weeks ago. They were like, “Are you a hidden Mickey person?” And I was like, “What? What?” And they were like, “Are you a Disney adult?” I was like, “Where’s this going?” Anyway, so I was like, “I know about hidden Mickey’s and I do visit Disneyland more than Disney World because I have small kids and it’s just a little bit more doable for us.” And they were like, “Oh, you would be a Disney adult.” I was like, “Okay. I don’t know what that means.” And then they were talking about how I think there was like a friend of their older sibling had hidden stuff in their work.

Oh.

And I was like, “What are you saying? Wait. What are you talking about?” Yeah. They had just hidden stuff in their work. And I was like, “I don’t think anybody noticed it, so I’m going to count it as a, they weren’t very good at it and a win for me, I guess.” Because otherwise-

Maybe. Maybe. What things were they hiding? Were these good things or were they bad things?

I don’t know and they wouldn’t say. Now I’m stressed to the max because I’m like trying to figure out who that kid was in our records. I can only see the kid. I can’t passed kids, which is really bothersome. And I was like, “I’m stressed out.” But just with high schoolers, you just don’t know.

And I scout things because it’s contest season also at the same time that it’s art show season. And so we have very strict rules on messaging and we can’t do nudity obviously and all of these things. So one of our contests is like extremely strict and it’s a major one. And so I know that that would never fly, but then I’m like, “Oh, we’ll save it for something else if it’s borderline or alludes to …” And they were like, “Yeah, no, they put a bunch of stuff in there and nobody ever caught it.” And I was like, “What?” I know that student and I was like, “There’s no way.” But now I don’t have that work and so now I’m like stressed to the max and now I’m like, I’m going to have to vet every single thing, which I again, alleged hippie, I’m like, “Just throw it in there.” This is our art show. As long as it’s not blatant because we also have rules where I’m a mandated reporter. As long as it doesn’t bring any attention to me. But now I’m like scared that they’re going to put symbolism in because I drone on and on about symbolic things. We just covered the renaissance.

Yeah. And now you’re going to have to be combing over everything to make sure.

And they have large pieces. So anyway, that just brought upon a new level of anxiety, which just happened to me. And I’m like, “Please don’t. Just please. I’ve had enough. Please just don’t do that.” Because I always feel like we’re art, no one ever looks at us, but this would be the year.

I was going to say, now they might.

Now that I have my boards and that’s over, this would be the year. But otherwise, it’s just been a good time and no one has messed with the art. Again, knock on all the woods.

Yes.

No one has messed with the art. They really love it. But I’ve had a couple of kids ask if they could be models and I’m like, “Hey, that’s weird. Don’t talk to me like that.” They’re like, “Do y’all use models in class?” I’m like, “No. Thanks.”

No. We’re in high school. No.

Yeah. I was like, “No. That’s weird.” So those are just the funny, interesting things you get with high schoolers. Yeah. So now I’m like … But I think it’ll be okay. It’s just a new level of anxiety that started with a hidden Mickey.

Yeah. Yeah. For sure. But I don’t know. Hopefully nothing too terrible is being hidden. And if it is best of luck finding it.

Well I know. I’m like, no, somebody would have said something.

I think they would. High schoolers are bad at keeping those secrets. I feel like somebody would have told you.

Somebody would have said something or I would have heard rumblings. So that’s my new development. But no. We’ve had it all. We’ve had people cry. I was like, “Oh, I’m glad it elicits this response.” But overall it’s been generally positive and people really like it. And it’s a good recruitment tool.

Yeah. Absolutely.

Friends. Yeah.

Very cool. All right. Well Jenn, thanks for sharing some of your experiences and your stories here. Yeah. We’ll head back and watch or rewatch Art Show Secrets with you. Now we are all happy to know that the boards are finally here.

They are here and they’re beautiful.

All right. thanks Jenn. We’ll talk to you later.

All right. Have a good one.

Thank you to Jenn and as promised here is Sarah. Hey. Sarah Krajewski joining me now. Sarah, how are you?

I am doing really well today. One of those days where I feel like I have energy to do way more. That’s on my to-do list.

Yes. I love it. And just might as well throw a podcast interview in there with everything else.

All right. So I already talked to Jenn Russell about her experience with Art Show Secrets and the joy of starring in your own reality show. So I would love to know what it was like for you from your perspective, having this YouTube series all about you and what you’re doing for your art show. Can you tell me about the experience?

Yeah. First of all, it was super fun. It was definitely a great reminder for me to just stay on top of all the things that I have to do and get ready for the show. So it was keeping me accountable to all of the things that I already do, but just need to make sure I have in so they can edit the video together. So that was a really nice timeline there.

And I think if anything, it was a fun challenge for me to find interesting ways to share what I have going on in my classroom and it kept me at the top of my game as far as I should probably be videoing this. I should probably be making sure that I capture this. So it had me thinking a little bit more about sharing the information that I do within my classroom already and just trying to make sure everybody knows as much as they can about the art shows and the way that we do them at our school. So overall super fun. Lots of work, but hopefully some good tidbits out there if you’re interested in making an art show or even just taking a little bit from it. Like I always said at the end of the video, you don’t need to do an art show just like mine by any means, but if you find one little thing that might be a little bit helpful for you to try, that’s going to amplify what you might already be doing.

Yeah. Absolutely. That’s great advice. I think even if you just take one or two things to level up, I think that can be really beneficial. So let me ask you though, now, are things going well with this year’s art show? If you’re not planning ahead and being forced to record things and show everybody behind the scenes, are you still doing all of the work you need to be doing?

I’m not going to lie, I probably don’t have as many things prepared as I did last year. So if you had me do a YouTube series about this year, I’m like a little bit more quote behind from what I had prepped last year. But having done an art show for what, 14 years at this point, I know the things that I need to take care of and I definitely have a go-to list that helps me to plan my art shows and just keep everything in order. So I’m not really behind necessarily just on maybe more of the sharing end or some of the other things that I had shared in the YouTube series. Just might be not quite on top of all that stuff.

Overall, we’re good. All of our projects are in the works. We’re working on clay right now and getting those things glazed up. And then just in the last couple of years I switched from having my students create a piece that was for their art show and then using that as their piece to actually switching to have them choose their project that they have on display. Which I know so many art teachers do things so differently, but at the elementary level sometimes it’s you’ve got hundreds and hundreds of kids so you’re just grabbing things, organizing stuff. But it’s been-

Just take whatever you can find.

Let’s put it up. It’s going to be good. But I’ve switched to having them actually take down all the art in our school about two weeks before the show, hand out everything as a pre portfolio. I have the students pick out which project they want, they write an artist statement, they have a whole artist’s signature to display that project they feel most proud about. And that’s been really fun to watch which ones they choose and then really just know that the one that they have up is something that they’re most proud about. So that’ll be coming up in the next couple of weeks here for us. And then I’m still working on getting a lot of that more logistical stuff organized as far as getting our community members involved. And we have a lot of what I would say maybe extras for our art show. So it’s not just art on display and people come look at it. There’s a lot of extra activities and things that go on too. So all of that stuff is in the works as well still.

Oh, yeah. And it can be fun to make it an event, make it special for kids. But it’s one of those things that I don’t recommend every art teacher do because it’s a lot of work and it’s something you probably don’t need to add unless you’ve had experience. You’ve done art shows before.

Yes. I had actually a couple of art teachers come and observe me just a few weeks ago and one of them was talking about her art show and another one was saying she hasn’t put on one yet. A big school art show. But she’s just displaying things in the community and not going full art show. And my biggest advice is if you haven’t had an art show yet before you decide to start one advocate for getting paid for your art show. Because I was not paid. Not out of spite or anything. I set myself up and just started doing it. There’s so, so much work and time that goes into that that I was not paid for that extra time that I put in until last year. So if you’re able to do an art show and advocate … For example, the music teachers at our school get paid for their concerts as they are an out of hour activity. So I was able to go to our school board and advocate that this is a very similar type of event and I was logging my hours. So just a friendly reminder if you’re looking to do an art show, try to see if there’s any type of stipend that you can get for that before you start and then set up this precedent that you’re going to do it for free. Just saying.

No. That’s great advice. Yeah. We always encourage people to advocate for themselves and their programs and that’s a great way to do that. So thank you for remembering that. Now, like I said, I talked to Jenn already about the high school perspective and got some advice on putting on shows there. I would love the elementary perspective from you. Can you just share maybe a couple of your best tips or best tricks when it comes to an art show or things you think people can do to make their show a success?

Yes. Yes. And I believe I have an article or two about this as well. So this is just like my first go-to. Is if you want to add something to like a very … I won’t say basic art show, but just picture like putting art on display, inviting families to come see. That’s going to be a great event on its own because we love to show off the artwork that we make. But something that can make it a little bit more interactive is a little art scavenger hunt. So I used to actually at my first school, I would sit at the table and I would have all my little art show stack of papers and all my pre sharpened pencils and I would try to like corral the masses. “Hey, come do an art scavenger hunt. It’s going to be so fun.” And it was, but I ended up being the face of that for a lot of people coming in. So I’ll quick explain what a scavenger hunt is.

And then the second advice I have is make your art club kids, or if you don’t have an art club, some art volunteers run your art show so you can enjoy the art show. So you’re not sitting at the table trying to coerce people into doing a scavenger hunt. A scavenger hunt, pretty quick. Basically, once we put all the artwork up on display, I’ll write a question that relates to each … Wow. I am in school. Okay. Once we put all the artwork up, I’ll write a question that relates to each project. So it’ll be something like, which first grade artist made an artwork with four hearts in it. And then when people go check out the hundreds of pieces of art that we have on display, they’ll go look for that artist, write down their name, and then they can go bring it back up to the front table that has the art show scavenger hunt at it, and then win a little prize. So even last year I designed some cute little buttons on my iPad and then did a button maker so the kids can win a little wearable piece of art from Mrs K.

Oh, that’s cool.

Yeah. For finishing the scavenger hunt. So it’s just a way to trick them into seeing all the artwork. Because otherwise they go and they look for their piece and they point at it and they smile and then they’re done.

Yeah. Then that’s it.

Yeah. And they’re like, “Cool. I did it.” But when they’re forced to go to all the projects and be looking at everything and trying to find stuff, noticing things challenging themselves, that’s a really fun way to get them involved. So that’s my first hint. Second was my art club, which is my fourth and fifth graders. They run our art show. So we’ve got probably a dozen different jobs that I will have art club kids run. So things like the scavenger hunt table. They hand out the pencils, the buttons, I give them a little key and I get them all set up so that when people come into the show, it’s like kids inviting them to do things. Which is way more powerful than Mrs. K sitting at the table and begging them to do an art scavenger hunt.

But anything that you would want to do. If you’ve got a bake sale or we have different local community members come in and sell goods. Or we have a blacklight gallery that kids are our blacklight bouncers. So having kids run parts of your art show are going to help to make it be something they have ownership over. And yes, it’s more work for you to get that organized, but once you have that established, it helps to make the art show run smoother, that you’re not running around all over once it’s happening. That’s my favorite part is once the art show starts, I just wander around and watch everybody enjoy it. And that’s-

Awesome.

Through years of practicing and distributing jobs to everyone. And then I guess I have so many things to share, but the other one that’s a really fun one is if you’re able to find anybody in your community that’s a good connection to just amplify your art show a little bit. One of my favorite things is we are lucky enough at our school to own a school farm. So I have our director at the farm bring over animals to our school and we have a little mini petting zoo in the front part of our school just welcoming people to the art show.

That’s amazing.

You see a duck and a goat and a little goose and then you go in and look at artwork. It’s just so fun.

That sounds like a great night to me.

It’s so good. It’s so good. The kids love the animals. It’s perfect. And then we also have a family that owns food trucks, so I reached out to them. So once you have those relationships built, it’s really easy to continue those and count on that as a tradition. So it’s definitely a lot of work to do and to organize, but it can really make that event really memorable. So I think those are some tips that come to mind.

No. Very cool ideas. Yeah. I want to come to your art show already.

You can.

That sounds amazing.

You can pet a duck if you want.

I think it’s worth the trip. Okay. Before we go, do you have any good art show stories that you would love to share? Something good, something bad, something in between? Just any good stories that you would want to tell?

Yeah. I think I am reminded of the time that … I believe we have a podcast about this too. But I’m reminded of the time that you know, good old 2020 when we weren’t doing art shows. I think a really good challenge that Lindsey McGinnis and I took on together so we could lean on each other with questions or things we weren’t sure about, is that we actually did a drive by art show. So that’s just a reminder that there’s so many ways to celebrate kids art and there’s so many ways to just show off what your students are doing, that there’s not really a wrong way to do it. So our Drive by art show was literally … I think I had, gosh, 20 something boards that were four foot by eight foot, and I would just staple kids artwork to the boards and painted the backgrounds and then we set them up in the front loop of school. And parents and families came through with their kids in the back seats. We had a link to a YouTube video that had all this audio on it and they would just do loops in the front just looking at their art and listening to kids talk about what they created. So there’s no wrong way to have an art show.

And I think just hopefully finding that joy in your students and seeing the benefits of creating those memories, that’s the stuff that they’ll remember is that they feel seen and they feel loved and they feel like they can create and that’s our job as an art teacher. So that’s my suggestion is any way you can see if you can create some type of art show memory.

Oh, that’s awesome advice. I love that so much. So Sarah, thank you for taking a little bit here to talk to us about art shows and share some experiences and offer some great advice. Really appreciate it.

Of course. Thanks, Tim.

Thank you to Sarah and thank you to Jenn earlier for both coming on. Again, you can watch them on Art Show Secrets on YouTube. I will link to it in the show notes. And if you as an art teacher have an art show coming up, best of luck to you. It is a great experience for your students, a great way to let the community see what you’re doing, and a great opportunity to show off all of the amazing things that are happening in your classroom. So kudos to you for putting that on.

Art Ed Radio is produced by The Art of Education with audio engineering from Michael Crocker. Please be sure to subscribe so we can join you again. And if you love the show, please jump over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen and give us a five star rating, maybe even leave us a review. And we are also taking questions for the April mailbag. So if you have any questions about what’s going on in April, any questions about art teaching you would like Amanda and I to answer, please send them our way. We would love to hear them. You can email timothybogatz@theartofeducation.edu or podcast@theartofeducation.edu. We are looking forward to seeing what you’re curious about and looking forward to answering those questions the first week of April.