“The audience response to the White Shirt Project at Glen Urquhart School is nothing short of jaw dropping,” admits upper school art teacher and contemporary artist Dawn Southworth. “And the students deserve it. The towering scale, complex materials, and mature vision of these original works of art are something one might see in a contemporary art museum. To think that 13- and 14-year-old students created these powerful works of art is astounding.”
Southworth came up with the idea of the White Shirt Project years ago at the Boston Cardigan Project, an auction of commissioned artwork organized to benefit a women’s shelter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Each year, in preparation for the White Shirt Project, Southworth makes a pilgrimage to a warehouse in Cambridge where people can purchase clothing for a dollar a pound. Armed with a garbage bag, she wades through a sea of discarded clothing in search of white shirts for Glen Urquhart School (GUS) (Massachusetts) eighth grade students to transform into original works of art.
Prior to the culminating art exhibition, eighth-graders choose a contemporary artist to study. Using a white shirt, they create an autobiographical, mixed-media statement, with original ideas and symbolism that uses aspects of the chosen artist’s style and techniques. Plus, they write research papers profiling their artist and offering a critical assessment of the artist’s contribution to his/her times.
During the Arts Block Evening, students present their research and their White Shirt Project to the greater GUS community. As part of that evening, students also present modern dances they choreographed, accompanied by music they composed.
“The White Shirt Projects reflect GUS students’ engagement with society, as well as the hopes and aspirations of these young minds. Year after year, this assignment stretches students’ minds and hands to create the unimaginable. It is no wonder that this project has become the highlight of the eighth grade art show and is something that the whole school looks forward to every year,” says Interim Head of School Raymond Nance.