Humann students soar into happy worlds at new art show

Humann Elementary School students created a galaxy-sized amount of smiles with artwork that featured everything from comets to constellations.
 
Hundreds of Huskies displayed their imagination at the inaugural Humann Glow Art Show. Students, parents, guardians and friends packed one section of the school to see glow-in-the-dark artwork. They watched animated clay figures on a video board in the gym, walked past the control panel of a space shuttle and gave many compliments to all of the happy artists.
 
Fifth graders Quincy and Josie said they were excited about the schoolwide project. All 500-plus students at Humann made at least one piece of art for the outer-space-themed show, and many created four or more entries.
 
“It’s been really fun,” Quincy said. “I’ve had a good time making the artwork. It’s been something where you can have a lot of fun thinking about what to do.”
 
“We did all of this in four months, so we got a lot done,” Josie said. “It’s our first time ever doing this, so I think it’s turned out really well.”
 
Tabi Zimmerman smiled as she talked about the project minutes before the front doors opened. Zimmerman teaches art at Humann and led all of the preparations for the three-hour show. She was glad to guide students as they formed pictures of planets, pinwheel galaxies and popular space creatures.
 
“It’s truly been an all-year project,” Zimmerman said. “The kids are so excited about this. I can’t even begin to tell you how excited they are.”
 
Zimmerman first told students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade about the “Outer Space in Art” idea in November. They learned about many astronomy concepts such as planets, stars, asteroids and comets. They then made artwork to display in three “solar system” sections of school.
 
Fifth graders created animated objects for the first area. Zimmerman asked them to design clay-based characters that could move, had a face and lived in outer space. They then attached their characters to a wire framework and videotaped them in action. People watched orange foxes, top-hatted penguins and multi-armed lobsters come to life on a giant screen on the gym wall.
 
Students in grades PreK-4 titled the second area “Our Universe” because it focused on art that could be in outer space. They spent time studying science-based ideas and used those to make drawings, sculptures and paper-mache pieces. The “Our Universe” hallway and classroom included lunar rovers, faces of smiling astronauts and a giant pink, red and yellow sun.
 
The third solar system was an area called “Wonderland.” Everyone at school “discovered” Wonderland during their classroom research and voted on what the new planet would look like. They then tailored their artwork to show Wonderland’s environment and the animals and creatures that lived there.
 
Students said Wonderland’s environment included floating land, spiral trees, giant flowers, red clouds, rainbows and people-transporting bubbles. They said dragons, walking bananas, unicorns and mixed-up animals lived on the planet. All of the creatures had castles as their homes and used spaceships to travel from city to city.
 
“That’s a pretty neat room,” Josie said. “The walking bananas turned out to be pretty cool. We did a vote on that in our whole school.”
 
Zimmerman said students experimented with fluorescent and neon materials to make their artwork glow in the dark. They formed hundreds of tiny stars from scrap paper and worked together on larger projects such as standing-up sculptures and replicas of Earth.
 
“A lot of them were individual projects, but there were a lot of group projects too,” Zimmerman said. “It was really neat to see them work together.”
 
Quincy and Josie were among 24 fifth graders who helped Zimmerman curate the show. They placed artwork on tables and cardboard walls, set up black lights to make their drawings shine and created signs for each solar system. They then guided visitors on their tours of outer space throughout the show.
 
“They’ve done an awesome job,” Zimmerman said. “It’s a lot of work, but they’ve handled it all really well.”
 
“It’s been exciting to help put this together,” Quincy said. “I think everyone’s been happy to see it all come together like this.”
 
The event blasted far beyond the original art show idea as students told family and friends about it. Humann Parent-Teacher Organization (PTO) members secured donations, bought necessary art materials and promoted the show to neighborhood residents. A large book fair took place in the front hallway during the night, and students wore neon bracelets and fluorescent-styled clothes during their journeys through space.
 
Zimmerman said the art show has taught students about problem solving, teamwork, creativity, organization and responsibility this year. She said it has been a positive out-of-this-world experience for everyone.
 
“I’m very happy with how the students have worked on this, especially since we’ve never done it before,” Zimmerman said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”
 
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