My 20th art show at Dolvin Elementary

Fine Arts Night has been a Dolvin tradition since before I started teaching there in 1996; it's a night that celebrates art and music in our school. It has grown by leaps and bounds and it is so rewarding to see families enjoying and talking about our year's work. This year marks my 20th show!

Forgive the boxes in this shot - I snapped this during set up and got too busy to get another shot, but you can get the idea of the professional quality of the display set up by Artome. They do all the framing, setup, and breakdown, offering parents the convenience of purchasing the frame, with a percentage going to our art department. The art, of course, belongs to the artists and is all returned after the show, so no pressure there.

Students are proud to show off the work they chose as their favorite of the year, so lots of variety.

Another activity was an adaptation of the Token Response game, which I renamed "smARTie stickies" - families can respond to a variety of artworks by placing color coded stickies with their name and comment on the works. Always fun to see the variety of responses - our principal was taken with the Seurat, because it looked peaceful during this busy time of year.

Thank you to my trusty volunteers, who greeted, answered questions and helped families find their art and make purchases. Couldn't do it without all of you!

We got lots of great feedback about our Artsonia site, which is new to us this year. We had a slideshow running from our page and a QR code posted for those families not yet signed up.

The photo wall was a spot on our FAN Family Scavenger Hunt, which encouraged families to take pics of their FAN experiences and hashtag them on Instagram and Twitter with #dolvinFAN, or comment on our teaching blogs.

Fan letters were available for friends and family to write a note of appreciation and admiration for the artist, which will be delivered next week. These letters can be found at my Teachers pay Teachers store - https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Knights-Smartest-Artists

The chorus concert, American Pop Forever, was live streamed from the cafeteria to the big screen in the art show as well, so we were able to see and hear from the other end of the building - gotta love some technology! Here are our talented and sometimes silly music teachers...

Thanks again to the student artists, the teacher volunteers and school leaders, the Artome company, and especially the Dolvin families for continuing to make this night a highlight every year!