Visions of Inspiration exhibition at Macon Little Theatre!

Who inspires you? That's the question I asked each of my students to prepare for our Visions of Inspiration exhibit. They wrote a paragraph about someone who makes them want to be a better person then drew something that represented that hero.  One student chose Jim Henson and drew a bunch of puppets, another choose Little Cesar and drew pizza slices.

Matthew Forrest of Georgia College, used grant money for most of the frames and created silk screens from these drawings, which were printed onto paper silhouettes of the students.  Then the students used watercolors, crayon or colored pencil to enhance the prints. We mounted and framed the prints and viola! A show was born.

My rendition of Anne Sullivan and the magic word

The most moving pieces included a middle schooler whose "Papa" died a month earlier. He drew all the tools that the two of them used to work on cars together.  Another student talked about the time he flatlined as an ten year old.  He wrote about being taken to a blue room by Jesus and looking out the window back to earth, where he could see surgeons working on him, and his parents crying in the waiting room.

One student chose Helen Keller as her inspiration, and I chose Annie Sullivan, her teacher.  This worked out perfectly because we were asked to have an art show at Macon Little Theatre during their production of "Miracle Worker" which tells the story of Annie and Helen.

Student work with special symbols to represent their inspiration. Helen Keller is represented by roses. Hugs and kisses for mom, brushes and bats for a cousin who is missing an arm, coins for a grandma who taught the artist how to count change, and monsters for Jim Henson.

Matt had the student's stories printed  on a banner and my media specialist friend, Kim Smith embossed sticky plastic with Braille, which  my students helped me attach.

I made the title cards for each piece on print (glued to foam board) and Braille.
But attaching it to the carpeted wall was going to be a trick until someone gave me a tip to use velcro.  The prickly side of velcro worked perfectly!

"Annie Sullivan" and I at the dress rehearsal

 The director was kind enough to invite the school to see a dress rehearsal of the Miracle Worker! It was completely wonderful! All the students were engaged and the time flew! If you get a chance, go see it. It runs from May 3rd-12, 2019 at Macon Little Theatre.

 The two adult collaborators, Matthew Forrest and myself lead the way with student work to follow