Kids as Curators

Second Floor Gallery
February 12, 2010 through March 28, 2010

A free public opening reception will be held
during Gallery Night, Friday, March 12, 2010
from 7–10 p.m.

Now in its 6th year, Kids as Curators has a new batch of middle school students and their teachers thinking about their stuff in an intellectual way. Previous Kids as Curators exhibits have addressed the ways that 13-year-olds cope with hard times, how patterns are integral to industrial design, and recreating a local woodland environment. Candice Kemp, an English teacher from General McLane, recalls her experience: “I believe real learning occurs when the situations we provide our students closely approach real life…. The Erie Art Museum provided a real life situation—to curate an exhibit for the public. Quite a daunting task for kids, but it was exactly what I was looking for…. In the fall, the staff gave my students a guided tour of the museum’s artifacts with a twist. My students were to view the museum from the curator’s point of view. How insightful. Let the students discover the process, and discover they did. On the bus ride back to school the air was filled with ideas of collecting, presenting, and constructing.”

Students, after seeing their exhibits in the Museum, wrote, “It left my heart beat pounding and left myself in awe. Not only was my school exhibit awesome but the other schools’ were too.” “I thought it was really neat to see how regular kids like myself would be able to make something so professional.” “It’s a bit harder than it looks, it takes a lot of effort, ideas and thoughts.” This year’s partners are students from the Warren County School District’s gifted program, Erie’s Irving Elementary after-school program, and St. George School. These three wonderful groups of students represent a real diversity of viewpoints, and visitors can expect this year’s exhibit, like those of previous years, to be lively, engaging, humorous and interactive.

Sponsored by