Remember that one day in your elementary art class where there were paintings lining the walls, games to play, and parents presenting art pieces? Well, that is Radnor’s Art Goes to School Program! For over 10 years parents have been volunteering to bring a unique range of art and educational experiences into our district. Radnor is a part of the Art Goes to School Delaware Valley program that has over 500 members reaching over 165,000 students annually. Our district is home to a leading group of volunteers whose innovative activities bring fine art from all around the world into the classroom. The Delaware Valley Program provides these Radnor district volunteers with 20 pieces, in a variety of styles, as a part of a yearly profile of prints and sculptures. Parents in the AGTS organization then attend engaging workshops and research pieces to bring their knowledge to our district’s classrooms in the spring!

Beginning on March 4th, the AGTS volunteers brought the portfolio to Radnor Elementary School and have since also visited Wayne Elementary. From animals to abstracts, the eye-catching summation of art certainly caught the attention of our district’s students! In Radnor Elementary, every student was able to view the program as a part of the 6-day special cycle. Moreover, as a part of Art Goes to School’s 50th-anniversary celebration, a book bundle was donated to each elementary school’s library, expanding the students’ educational experiences. This is in continuation with the existing tradition that the elementary schools display content related to the profilo in their libraries during the week of volunteer visits to enrich the overall learning. The highlight of the classroom experience is undoubtedly the games/activities volunteers play with students! Making its post-COVID-19 debut the ‘Grab Bag’ came out. Housing a collection of small items related to the art content, students pick a selection from this bin and match it with a piece. This is a fan favorite, especially in the younger grades. Newly introduced this year, puzzles were created of a few notable profilo pieces. And good thing these were introduced because the students could not get enough!

This year’s portfolio includes local artworks, for example, “Three Disks, One Lacking” by Alexander Calderon Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philly (left), a Modigliani from The Barnes Foundation, and “Three Musicians” by Pablo Picasso housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (right).

Speaking of popular activities, the older grades particularly enjoyed comparing and contrasting the art pieces with one another. Kids also enjoyed expressing their personal opinions on the portfolio through an activity known as ‘portfolio polling’ where they animatedly expressed to their peers why a given piece was their favorite. Excitingly, these polls will soon have a larger impact. In turn with the 50th anniversary, AGTS will be providing a framed print of the most liked piece in each school to that elementary for the students to enjoy year round! Other games included drawing based off of the portfolio or matching segments of prints given on postcards in an activity dubbed ‘detail detective.’ All these activities and more will be heading to Ithan Elementary and St. Catherine’s School later this spring!

Beyond just our elementary schools, Art Goes to School has made an impact throughout the district. In collaboration with the Radnor Middle School, AGTS worked with their art club to have students create their own pieces inspired by the profilo. They curated a wide range of personal interpretations or responses to the pieces in a variety of mediums from sculptures, to paintings, to drawings. Moreover, volunteers have worked with the High School’s AP Art History Program in previous years. In this collaboration, students were tasked to create educational videos on a piece of art. These videos were then used in the classroom to give students further details on the art and artists in an accessible engaging format. Perhaps we will see more collaborations like these in the future!

“There’s a real sense of community across the buildings, students are united by the art”  -Radnor AGTS Chapter President Lucy Madden

Life as a member of AGTS is far from boring with field trips, casual meet-ups, and educational opportunities—all Radnor parents can find a part! The ‘season’ of AGTS begins in the fall with informal weekly “Portfolio Club” meetings. Focusing on one or two pieces each week, a member of the club casually leads a discussion of a piece that they have researched to educate the group. There are plenty of resources provided by the organization to make research simple and these sessions are low-commitment and fun! Over the holiday season, volunteers can go on what is arguably the highlight of the year for parents; the New York City Exhibition tour. On this trip, the club members get a guided tour of an art museum exhibition along with a fantastic lunch and free time to shop or explore the city! In February, preparation to teach in the schools takes off with the annual Workshop which is typically hosted in the Winsor event Room of the Radnor Memorial Library. The training centers around three main points: familiarizing parents with the portfolio, discussing ideas such as games/activities to do with the kids, and making the volunteers feel comfortable/ready to be an Art Goes to School Presenter. The Radnor Chapter currently has around 20 volunteers, some who research, some who present in the elementary schools, and others who simply enjoy socially engaging with art!

“There’s a deep-rooted sense of passion and commitment from the volunteers, parents are encouraged by the enthusiastic students to go back year after year.”

-Radnor AGTS Chapter President Lucy Madden

Parents, are you interested in joining Art Goes to School? Email at [email protected] 

Want to learn more about AGTS in Delaware County? Check out their website here.