A Faster Way to Display

I want to share with you how I can change out student art displays in under 10 minutes!

I was tired of thumbtacks, bulletin boards, complex framing structures and flyaway staples to display student art. I just didn’t have time for it, I would rarely change out the student art.  Less rotating art on display not only makes me and my program look bad, it disservices the students who deserve to see their art hanging on the walls.    So, when our school went under a renovation, I petitioned for new art display rails and the Parent Teacher Organization helped, too.

These are Trap Ease Rails. My elementary art teacher uses them, and that is where I got the idea. They are a small beaded strip that “traps” the artwork in, and locks it into place with no staples, magnets or other strange adhesives. Just pressure!

You slide the art up behind the beaded strip in the rail.  Then, once it catches, your work is done. I can slide up a whole classes worth of art in a few quick minutes. I think they really look nice, too. I opted for 2 layers, making sure that I can turn the 12×18 papers the vertical way and still fit 2 rows.

When you want to release the papers, all you do is curl the paper up, and it quickly releases from the “trap”- This makes taking down the work a 2 minute process as well.

Although an initial  investment, these rails have never let me down when it comes to getting and keeping student work in display in a timely and organized fashion.

I also include a small descriptor of the project we did, so families and teachers and others students unerstand the learning that is happening in the art room…. always advocating!

Want to know more about how I choose which artwork to put up? I posted on that right here.

How do you fit the task of displaying student art around your school, without taking hours of time?