Children's Artwork on Display at the Guggenheim

Yesterday, the Guggenheim unveiled an exhibit of artworks created by public school students, A Year with Children 2008: Selected Works from Learning Through Art. Over 1,500 students, between grades second and sixth and from 15 schools, participated in 10- and 20-week projects at the Guggenheim's Learning Through Art artists-in-the-schools program.

This year the students investigated local communities, the role of art and artists in society, natural habitats, geography, storytelling, cultural traditions, historical eras, and identity. They also studied the work of artists exhibited at the Guggenheim (one child told the museum, "An artist learns by looking at other artists.").

One Chelsea gallery owner was very impressed with the level of work, saying of one collage, "It's so poignant and introspective - the mask is bifurcated as if to show what's being imagined. It has a deep sense of pathos." About 200 works are on display, including paintings, sculptures, masks, quilts, papier-mâché and clay works, and more, through June 13.