“It's important for students to feel a sense of place in their learning – having their work be both reflective of their community and displayed in a community space helps ground their educational and creative process,” Shaina Lu, teacher at JQES.

On Saturday, April 6, over 100 people gathered at Pao Arts Center to view the latest exhibit, Inspired by... Artwork by Josiah Quincy Elementary School. The galleries were filled with Josiah Quincy Elementary School (JQES) students gasping with excitement when they found their works of art on display.

The exhibit was created in partnership with one of the JQES art teachers, Shaina Lu, who led her students through numerous activities inspired by artists and art styles ranging from American pop artist Jen Stark to the traditional art of Talavera tiles from Mexico. Each section of the multimedia exhibit draws inspiration from a different source, making the entire viewing experience a joyful panoply of artistic expression. 

During the opening reception, visitors were invited to create their own Talavera tile to add to an interactive portion of the exhibit to democratize it. If you don’t see your work on the wall, you just have to make a piece! Throughout the event, everyone from kindergarteners and their parents to college art students created tiles to add to the interactive wall. The wall started as a blank canvas but was soon filled with a riot of color and character! 

Opening remarks were delivered by Visual Arts Manager Maia Erslev, who then introduced City Councilor Ed Flynn, who spoke about the importance of maintaining and uplifting Chinese culture and arts. Cynthia Soo Hoo and Shaina Lu of JQES also spoke, and each thanked the young artists for their work and talent.  

If you missed the opening reception but are looking for programming, don’t miss our April vacation week drop-in workshops!

Wednesday, April 17 | 1:30 - 4:30 PM | Talavera Tiles

Thursday, April 18 | 1:30 - 4:30 PM | Monoprints

Friday, April 19 | 1:30 - 4:30 PM | What’s in Your Pantry?

Exhibiting Artists

K-5 students at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School (for a full list of students, click here)

Installation by

Diya Ghosh and Maia Erslev

Chinese Translation by

Feifei Shen

Read our full event details.