Liechty Middle School Final Exhibit
05.11.15
Liechty Photography student Miguel reenacts his photo for the camera
It was a supersized Final Exhibit on May 11, 2015 at John H. Liechty Middle School - three of our major curriculum tracks - Photography, Fine Arts, and Anime - were represented at one of the most ambitious displays we’ve ever attempted at the end of a semester. And the most wonderful part is, we didn’t do it alone!
Our partnerships are very important to us. We are always looking for new ways to expand and enrich our programming, and one of the most fulfilling ways we do this is through enlisting other organizations to collaborate with us on special projects! For Liechty’s Final Exhibit, we were lucky enough to have volunteers from the J. Paul Getty Trust on hand as part of their 3rd annual Getty Day of Service. Started in 2013, the Getty Day of Service is a time for staff to take time out of their usual work day and “put their efforts toward giving back” to their local community.
Our wonderful Getty volunteers
What a great fit these volunteers were for our Final Exhibit! It is very important to us to give our students the opportunity to display their art at the end of a semester of hard work - for one, it’s a chance for us to get to know them a little better and get feedback on the curricula; for another (and perhaps most importantly), we want our newly minted Global Citizens to feel empowered as they show off what they’ve done. It does something magical for a child to see their work displayed with respect and pride - “Look what I did!”
Having the Getty staffers on hand was priceless in this regard - they had the utmost respect for the students’ work, and spent heartfelt time showing them how to properly display their photos, masks, toy cars, and Anime drawings.
A Getty volunteer shows a Liechty student how to use painter’s tape to mount a photograph
Another Getty staffer helps students prep photos for display
Working together
Concentration!
Slowly but surely, things started coming together, and the displays started looking really impressive!
Yikes!
Liechty student artist Keyri poses with a Haitian Carnivale mask she made!
CMH’s Programming Coordinator Rachael (right) takes a moment to pose for a pic with Diana, the Getty’s school coordinator!
There was some extra joy at this Final Exhibit - having artistic professionals treat their work with reverence and respect put a little pep in our students’ steps, giving them confidence in their capabilities and an extra bit of pride in the work they were already anxious to share. We’re so thankful for our Getty volunteers. They set out to give back to their community, and they used their strength and expertise to enrich the lives of some of our brightest and most promising students. It just doesn’t get better than that.
Peace,
The CMH Team