Annual K-12 Art Exhibition showcases student creativity in Penn State gallery

Through a longstanding partnership with Penn State, State College Area School District students enjoyed a glitzy showcase for their artwork. During January, the district’s annual K-12 Art Exhibition featured a wide variety of student pieces — painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, mixed media and digital media — in the Robeson Gallery of the university’s HUB-Robeson Center. Each of the district’s 18 art teachers selected up to 10 pieces for the show, which began in 1998 as a regional exhibit for the Scholastic Art and Writing competition before becoming a celebration of student creativity. To show as much of a cross section of the art curriculum as possible, teachers were asked not to choose more than five works of art from one unit of study. According to State College Area High School art teacher Danielle Crowe, the district art curriculum coordinator, the show represented “visual evidence” of the thinking fostered by the design process, as well as demonstrated “growth in young artists’ abilities that extend far beyond making beautiful things.” The