Displaying Student Art

It’s the same old story. I would grab my rolling cart, throw in my long orange extension cord, my glue gun, a handful of hot glue sticks, load up on butcher paper and student artworks, and then head my merry self down to the first floor to begin the task of displaying student art in the main hallway.  At least an hour later, I’d stand back, my smile growing wider by the minute. The glistening sweat and little aches didn’t bother me a bit anymore. The collection of student artwork would look absolutely amazing and the weight of all the hard work put into teaching would begin to wrap its loving arms around me. Right at that moment, I’d feel it. The impact of what I do in the art classroom. Displaying student art is as beneficial to the students as it is to the teacher’s soul. Perhaps even the school’s soul as well. The delightful oohs and aahs of visitors, parents, students, and teachers fill the hallway. My favorite reaction is someone walking briskly to their destination and then suddenly they stop in their tracks and move in a little closer towards an artwork, pulled in by the allure of a kid sharing a part of themself through art.

Even after knowing the critical need for displaying student art, this was not a task that I looked forward to. I kept searching for a way to ease the process and really focused on these five aspects:

• Time - I wanted a quick process.

• Cost - I needed something so that 400+ artworks could be displayed at one time.

• Take Down - I wanted it to be easy to take down the artwork and return to the student.

• Keep Art Safe - I didn’t want to glue or poke through a student’s artwork.

• Appearance - I wanted it to look polished.

As I was preparing for a school art show where every student’s art had to be displayed, the idea came to me. I could use a mat, add some spacers and a backing and then just slide the artwork in and out. I could reuse them and the artwork would look amazing. And that is exactly what I did!  Luckily, I had a student teacher who helped me make 400+ mats. If you have parent volunteers, this would be the perfect job for them. I have an amazing principal who was able to purchase the materials without using my art budget, as it was an investment for showcasing student work. Below is a video of how I made the mats and have displayed them at my school.

This year is the first year that I really got to see how much easier this method of displaying art is. I just slide in each artwork, take them downstairs, and slide the mats into a display rail. It doesn’t matter if the artwork is a portrait or landscape size, the mat works for both. It makes displaying art so easy, sans glistening sweat and all! The oohs and aahs have been even greater because the art looks so polished and perfect in these beautiful mats. The mats could be customized with different colors, trims, sizes, layers and so much more. There are endless ways to jazz up these mats and I can’t wait to dig into that in the near future! To make the process even more easy, I cut all my paper for student art to 8x10 sheets or smaller.  This ensures that all student art will fit into the frames and students can spend more energy on a smaller canvas which makes their art pop even more because of the layering and details added. Below are a list of the materials I used to create the mats and labels. I also included the display equipment our school has invested in.

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Mat Materials:

• Mat Boards (50 pack) or Mat Boards - smaller packs

• 6 Ply Pacon Railboard Sheet

• Cardboard cut into 1” x 7.5” strips

• School Glue

• 8” x “10 sheet of paper as reference

Label Materials:

• Sewing Clips

• Plastic Labels

• Cardstock with student label information

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Display & Storage Equipment (These are great school investments for art shows and school-wide exhibitions.)

• Ghent Hold Up Display Rail

• Folding Panels

  • Fabric Hooks (for top row)

  • Metal Hooks (to connect mats together)

• Picture Hanger Adhesives (stick on the back of the mat and hang onto nails/hooks/thumbtacks)

  • Self-Leveling Laser (use to align and space out nails and hooks perfectly!)

• Storage Bins

There are so many ways to display student art and this is the way that works for me right now. I hope it gives you some ideas to help you in your journey with displaying student art. It definitely feels like an adventure with highs and lows along the way! If you find this information useful, have adapt it to your needs or style, or have a way to display art that works for you, I’d love to hear from you!