Art teacher Lauren Appel views the student artwork with kids and families on Saturday night.
Laura Marie Rivera
On Saturday night, Seattle Center’s A/NT Gallery welcomed the students and families of Queen Anne Elementary School to an artist reception for the school’s first Gallery show “HOPE GROWS: Art that inspires hope for the planet.”
The A/NT Gallery is “a welcoming, non-juried, art space with new shows opening each month” located by the International Fountain.
This student art show was a labor of love for Lauren Appel, the school’s Art and Maker Space Specialist. She has been teaching at Queen Anne Elementary School for five years and is no stranger to museum and gallery settings. Before transitioning to elementary education, she worked for Hilltop Artists and Arts Corps here in Washington and the Rubin and Guggenheim museums in New York City.
“Every student was invited and 170 participated,” Appel said.
The first step in creating a sustainable art show was acquiring enough canvasses for the students. The gallery donated some previously used canvasses and the teachers and parents collected the rest of them from other organizations and neighbors. All the while, students were brainstorming the theme and guiding question for the show. Art class lessons included teaching the kids about acrylic paints, mixing colors, and the process of making art. Students were given only the primary colors plus black and white. All of the other colors had to be created from there. Thinking about the planet, they used reusable cloth rags instead of paper towels.
“What I love about art is how I have the freedom to make anything I want,” said fifth-grader Sloan Weaver. Sloan was one of the 20 student curators who gave classroom presentations and helped students vote on the poster design.
Adelie Ailes is a third grader who also helped out with the show. Adelie spent three days at the gallery assisting on the installation of all the student work.
“It is just amazing to see how hard people worked on their artwork and wanted to change the world. Putting it up made me smile,” Ailes said.
Her big brother Oscar is a QAE alumni who put the hanging wires on the back of each canvas and welcomed all of the young artists with special nametags.
Kids and families crowded the gallery to view the student art alongside the work of professional artists.
Kara York came to see her son Liam’s art and said, “The show is great because it displays creativity and the kids are really excited to be in a professional gallery setting.”
Liam had been in a hurry to get to the gallery because he did not want anyone to purchase his painting before they could get there. Fortunately, they made it in time and his parents were able to secure his original artwork.
By the time the evening was coming to a close, there were many red dots next to the paintings that had been sold. Proceeds from the show will be donated to support the Duwamish River.
A/NT Gallery is located at 305 Harrison Street, across from the International Fountain at Seattle Center. They are open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. “HOPE GROWS” will be on display until Jan. 26 and more information can be found at www.antgallery.org/.