Art Night has kind of been a big deal every year for the last nine in our family. I would describe my relationship with Art Night as a love/hate one.
I can remember one year-it was the year all four of my daughters attended elementary school and I taught art in each of their classes. I spent pretty much every waking hour at the school, draping the walls with black gallery wrap, mounting, labeling and then hanging every stinkin’ piece of artwork. (Can you sense the fatigue?)
I arrived home that Friday night, sick (literally) and tired. I sent my husband out the door with the kiddos so they could revel in pride over their masterpieces. Without me. I’d seen enough.
I’m sure most art teachers at our school feel similarly. We love our kids so we volunteer to teach art in their classes (which is the fun part, of course). Then Art Night rolls around and the prep is so exhausting we end up cursing the day we ever agreed to such a thing.
Except…the children. Our beloved children. Art Night is the single event at our school that highlights the work of every single student at the elementary. That’s pretty darn awesome.
So I keep going back for more. Year after year. After blasted year.
In fact, this year I enjoyed the added pleasure of being in charge of the whole thing. Lucky me!
Truly, it was a joy. And here’s why:
- I had an amazing team of volunteers. I simply gave them individual assignments and they ran with them.
- I maintain an attitude that if people want to complain about how I run things, they can do it next time. I don’t get paid a dime for what I do, which doesn’t mean I do a crappy job, but it does take a lot of the pressure off of everything having to be perfect, you know?
- The school have us the red light on a couple of “traditions” that, in the past, characterized Art Night. (Wrapping the hallways in black paper and serving food). This was a bit of a downer for some, BUT, it freed up a lot of time to do other things to spice up Art Night.
So what went well? The Doodle Wall was a big hit, student music performances generated a lot of participation, the art auction earned a healthy chunk of cash.
We also had a photo op (using Munch’s “The Scream”), lined the walls with posters of works by the masters and quotes by other famous artists, and each member of the Art Night “committee” wore awesome aprons so everyone knew of whom they could ask questions.
We also have the most amazing art teachers a school could ask for. Our kids are getting regular art instruction from some of the very best.
What went wrong? Well, Tim ended up having to travel to Michigan for the weekend for his grandpa’s funeral. It was, of course a wonderful occasion for him to visit with family, but it definitely made an already busy/stressful weekend into a one-woman show.
Even that turned out to be a blessing because without my slave labor, all my friends kicked it up a notch and saved the day by supporting me every step of the way.
I also focus on rule #2. I used to volunteer to run a fundraiser. It was hours of time and each year folks would offer their “suggestions” (criticisms really) for the next year. After my 5th year of that, I replied, “Thanks for volunteering to run this next year.”
Your picture of Jack is adorable! Great idea for the scream photo op. And who doesn’t want to draw on a wall? Congratulations on your hard work.
Fortunately for me, our school
community was uber-supportive and, if there were criticisms, they were behind my back. They’re smart enough to appreciate that someone else did the legwork for free so gratitude goes along way in keeping those people on the volunteer list.