Art classes throughout Chesterfield County Public Schools collaborated to establish the world’s largest, kid-created museum of tiny artworks.
The record-breaking display includes approximately 2,416 miniature artworks created by 2,196 students in grades PK-12 throughout Chesterfield County Public Schools. The art is arranged into school galleries, with 66 schools represented. Small artworks on display include originals and reproductions of famous paintings. Portraits, landscapes, abstracts, still lifes, pop art, sculptures and more are part of the Mini Museum, which measures 36 feet by 5 feet.
The Mini Museum is open during regular mall hours through April 19 at Chesterfield Towne Center, 11500 Midlothian Turnpike. The south entrance near Old Navy and the north entrance near H&M provide quick access to the museum, which is located near Macy’s. Regular mall hours are 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.
Jimi Herd, the visual art curriculum specialist for Chesterfield County Public Schools, said the Mini Museum “is the biggest little thing we’ve ever done!” A Feb. 25 ribbon-cutting ceremony generated a big buzz of excitement as Mini Museum visitors leaned in close to enjoy the creativity and locate tiny surprises throughout the display.
Here’s how and why the Mini Museum was created:
The Mini Museum is a collaborative art project designed to spotlight the creativity of students across Chesterfield County Public Schools.
In September, schools received a museum packet including supplies to design their own miniature art gallery. The overall theme, materials and approach were left open for teachers and students to decide.
After months of planning, collaboration and creating, each school’s tiny art display came together to make the world’s largest miniature art museum created by kids.
The Mini Museum shows the work of thousands of student-artists and hundreds of dedicated teachers and demonstrates the positive impact of arts in student learning.
The Mini Museum connects to these Virginia Standards of Learning for the visual arts:
Standard 1: Apply creative thinking in the development of original work
Standard 2: Understand and apply creative processes for developing ideas
Standard 5: Apply collaboration and communication skills for visual arts works and processes
Standard 7: Understand visual arts as a form of community engagement