Kids as Curators
Feb. 10, 2005 – March 18, 2005
Annex Gallery

Click here for images

Some of the community’s most voracious collectors are our youth.  Living in the liminal zone between childhood and adolescence, their bedrooms are veritable stockpiles of American cultural artifacts.  Sneaker designs, this season’s nail polish palette, skateboard paraphernalia, and collectible stuffed animals are just a fraction of the many objects accumulated by the American 12-14 year old.

Since this fall over 300 students from Iroquois, Union City, Pfeiffer-Burleigh, and St. Andrews have been thinking hard about their stuff and what it can communicate.   The Kids as Curators exhibit is their offering to us.  These local middle school students have curated and designed a showcase featuring their personal collections.  This humorous and thought-provoking distillation of pre-teen ephemera offers a fresh perspective on collecting and our modern culture.

Last year’s Kids as Curators exhibit was a great success.  Going far beyond the typical student art show, it included a playful juxtaposition of all things rock and roll (cradles, skateboards, dice, Megadeath posters, colored pebbles and poodle skirts), an androgynous mannequin, (sporting pearls, bow tie, skater pants, ripped t-shirt, and ball gown) and an eerie collection of face-on-the-glass scanned portraits, (“sort of like the anti-school picture”).  Visitors wrote, “I loved the exhibits...they really rocked my world!” “Wow, kids did this?!?” “I loved how twisted  it was.” “Fantastic!”

This year’s exhibit is a wonderful follow-up.  Union City students have paid homage to the Union City Chair Company by creating thrones devoted to their particular obsessions.  Students at Iroquois, inspired by Katrina and the drama of our local meteorology, have created an exhibit around weather accessories.  Erie’s Pfieffer-Burleigh students have collaborated with artist-in-residence John Vahanian on an installation created from found objects.  St. Andrews students in league with sculptor-in-residence Suzanne Proulx-Bavaro offer us a glimpse of what different generations reveal and conceal.

Kids, now experienced in the art of curation, offer the following  advice on the making of an exhibit, “Think beyond the normal.  Let your mind wander. Be as creative as possible. There are no boundaries in the area of creation.”

This project is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant-making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities.  The Arts in Education program of the Erie Arts Council also supported the program, funding artist residences.