This year, every student in our school made marks on these gargantuan poster paintings. The marks act as symbols for the stage of school life they were about to begin. The color schemes and some symbols were inspired by the stunning works of Hilma Af Klint, specifically The Ten Largest, painted in 1907 which “focuses on the stages of life and humanity’s connections to the universe,” which comprise the very earliest abstract paintings in the western tradition. This boundary breaking artist was largely overlooked by history and is now being appreciated as a stunning creative force and essential part of Art History.

I had the pleasure of seeing these works in person at the Guggenheim in February 2019, and knew immediately I had to share their beauty with my students. I knew they would appreciate the works and be able to make something amazing with the concepts of symbols and life stages, but still they surprised me by creating a work so compelling I'm reticent to pull it off the wall! We'll be re-purposing these works at some point this year, but I'll never get tired of looking at the gorgeous and monumental paintings our students created this year.