Showcasing Student Work

Artist Name: Krystan Iazzetto
School: New Buffalo High School

Winter brings with it many things - snowflakes, hot chocolate, holiday breaks, and of course Art Competitions. It seems that this time of year is when students start to get into the groove of making their best works and teachers are making the tough choices of which pieces best represent their school in annual events like the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards.

If you went to Diane Heath's presentation on Scholastic to AP Portfolio's at this year's MAEA Conference, you would have seen how this teacher uses the opportunities offered through student competition to showcase student work and push students to achieve their highest potential. As a result of participating in programs like the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, her students have high standards and expectations for their work and her program has built a prestigious level of respect.

The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is only offered for students grades 7-12, but there are many opportunities for students of all levels to be showcased in Michigan and beyond. To help organize these opportunities, I created a LiveBinder of various sites that hold competitions. Some have passed, like Sooper Yooper which corresponds with ArtPrize in the Fall; others are fast approaching, like the Cray-Pas Wonderful Colorful World Contest due December 9th.There are also various events to showcase students that are still yet to come in the Spring, like the Region shows and the Governor's traveling show as well as shows celebrating Youth Arts Month.

If you are interested in showcasing work beyond the walls of your school building, you can also participate in Artsonia, the largest online gallery of student work.This resource allows students to share their work with family and friends, build and maintain an online gallery over the course of their school career, as well as raise funds for the art classroom.

Whether you are a seasoned veteran or have never done anything like this at all, we can all agree that our main concern and focus is offering opportunities for students to shine. What are some of the annual events that you participate in to showcase students?