At the end of last semester, before summer break, I assigned a project for my students with the idea to create an art installation in my classroom. It seemed simple enough: they would take black and white portraits of their hands and I would assemble the prints together in a fashion inspired by an artist I stumbled across, Annette Messager.

The students did a great job of using props and hand gestures to be able to create dynamic and creative expressions. I was blown away at their excitement for the idea and how much they got into it. I received so many more submissions than I expected, especially because it was an optional assignment and I wasn’t giving them a grade.

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All in all, between 6 classes of 25-30 students, I ended up with around 250 images. My initial plan was to purchase small plastic frames and use twine to hang them from pushpins on a wall of my classroom, but that idea quickly got shoved to the side when I realized how costly the frames were and and how unhappy our facilities director would be with me when he discovered all the tiny holes in the drywall.

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My next idea was to use unfinished wood frames that I would spray paint black, but again, finding bulk solutions on the cheap was proving to be no less cost effective. I was close to giving up on my initial plan when I realized that I didn’t actually need frames, I just needed something that would look like a frame and give the photos a little more substance. I found a very nice vendor on Etsy that was willing to send me cardstock die-cut paper frames in black for a very reasonable price.

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The last dilemma I faced was how to hang these things without destroying school property and after a long conversation with an artist friend of mine, we agreed that finding something that I could hang the framed images from was better than poking hundreds of holes in the wall. We tossed out several ideas including plywood, foam core and even a large empty frame, before settling on a piece of a limb that had fallen from a tree nearby our home.

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Slowly but surely, I’ve been making progress on our art installation. There are some weeks where I don’t add any pictures, but I’m determined to finish it by the end of the semester. I’m optimistic that I’ll be able to do it – I’m more than halfway finished – and I have former students pop in to check my progress on a regular basis.

Stringing it along – Angie