School: LEAD Innovation Studio
Class: Graphic Design
Instructor: Kelsey Jury
Client: Zona Rosa
Problem: How can we design, curate, and promote a district-wide art exhibition that showcases student creativity across all grade levels while creating an engaging and memorable experience for the community?
Summary
Students in the LEAD Graphic Design course led a full-scale, district-wide art exhibition hosted at the Professional Studies space in Zona Rosa. Guided by client Christina Courtney, students took ownership of every stage of the project—from planning and curating artwork to coordinating with other Park Hill programs for a successful Opening Night event.
To begin, students reached out to district art teachers to gather submissions, proposing a unifying theme suitable for K–12 student artwork. They then curated the show by selecting and printing submissions, organizing the layout, designing labels, and arranging the physical setup of the gallery space. Collaboration extended beyond the art department, as students partnered with the ProStart culinary program and the school jazz band to elevate the Opening Night experience.
In addition to curation and event planning, students developed and executed a marketing strategy to promote the exhibit. Their efforts led to a highly successful launch event that raised $700 through art sticker sales and donations. The final exhibition will remain on display for the next year, showcasing student talent and the power of collaborative design.
Takeaways
Students learned to work with community partners. Students learned organizational skills and problem-solving to determine what organization works best. Students learned about branding. Students had to be flexible with their time and workload depending on the client’s needs. Students established an art collection with a specific theme. Students collaborated in teams to work towards the overall goal. Students worked on deadlines and made their own timeline. Students worked to market and plan their opening night for the art show. Students saw through this night & made it a success.
Advice
This is a HUGE undertaking. A little over halfway through students started to recognize how much work goes into this and began to be appreciative of art curators and art teachers’ shows. Being upfront with this and planning more time than you think is important!
Standards/Learning Targets
- 1.A. Visualize and hypothesize to generate plans for ideas and directions for creating art and design that can affect social change.
- 1.B. Choose from a range of materials and methods of traditional and contemporary artistic practices, following or breaking established conventions, to plan the making of multiple works of art and design based on a theme, idea, or concept.
- 2.B. Demonstrate understanding of the importance of balancing freedom and responsibility in the use of images, materials, tools, and equipment in the creation and circulation of creative work.
- 2.C. Demonstrate in works of art or design how visual and material culture defines, shapes, enhances, inhibits, and/or empowers people’s lives.
- 4.A. Critique, justify, and present choices in the process of analyzing, selecting, curating, and presenting artwork for a specific exhibit or event.
- 5.A. Investigate, compare, and contrast methods for preserving and protecting art.
- 6.A. Curate a collection of objects, artifacts, or artwork to impact the viewer’s understanding of social, cultural, and/or political experiences.
- 7.B. Determine the commonalities within a group of artists or visual images attributed to a particular type of art, timeframe, or culture.
- 9.A. Construct evaluations of a work of art or collection of works based on differing sets of criteria.