Fresh Artists Kids are going back to the Philadelphia Flower Show!

Because of the huge success of Fresh Artists’ past Flower Show exhibits, Sam Lemheney, Vice President and Chief of Shows and Events for the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society invited Fresh Artists back for the fourth time to create a curated exhibition showcasing the remarkable young artists in our area public schools at their world-famous event.  

Hold on to your hollyhocks!  There’s more….in addition, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has placed Fresh Artists’ exhibit of children’s art in an even more prominent location this year….. just inside the main Show Entrance!!!!! Due to Covid, for the second time, the Philadelphia Flower Show is being held outdoors June 11-19th, 2022 in FDR Park in South Philadelphia.

This year’s Philadelphia Flower Show’s theme is “In Full Bloom”. In January, we launched an exceptional Art-Full All Call “Bloom Boom”, for all 250 K-12 Art Teachers in the Philadelphia, Norristown, and Camden public schools!  

“Bloom Boom” allowed young artists to explore the concept of “blooming” as a metaphor for how, after 2 challenging years of COVID, people can begin to bloom again… to be the best version of themselves.….as flowers do in their most outstanding, striking, and beautiful moment.

We opened our thesaurus and discovered “to bloom” evokes the spirit of glowing, unfolding, thriving, shining, achieving, flourishing, and radiating.  We created 5 themed science and career integrated visual art projects to encourage children to think positively about how THEY can bloom into the very best version of themselves by making flower-centric art!

“Bloom Boom” introduced more than 1,700 kids in 48 public K-12 schools to cool, accomplished creatives such LA’s Maurice Harris, Florist, Artist + Designer, Visionary behind Bloom & Plume and internationally known Dutch Floral Designer, Pim Van den Akker, creative director of Flower Factor ®.  Many of the 5 art projects integrate botanical exploration into the purpose, parts, and science of flowers in addition to drawing, painting and floral design.

Fresh Artist will curate a select collection of more than 125 outstanding student artworks to showcased in Fresh Artists’ 2022 Philadelphia Flower Show Exhibit, supporting our mission to exhibit children’s art in highly visible and unexpected venues! We advocate for strong art education in all public schools by enlarging each artwork many times its original size to amplify the children’s voices and testify to their talent and generosity.

We amplify the childrens' voices by amplifying their art -- using the latest in Canon technology we print the children's artwork really really BIG on the Arizona and Colorado large-format printers.

Last year, 175,000 people attended the outdoor Flower Show and attendance is forecasted to be higher this year. Each young artist whose art we display in our Philadelphia Flower Show exhibit will be provided with one FREE ticket to the Show for them, a caretaker, AND their Art Teacher!

To further amplify the considerable efforts and energy of both art teachers and their children, ALL K-12 young artists artwork submitted to “Bloom Boom” will be scanned at a high-resolution and featured in the “Bloom Boom” Digital Art Exhibition which will reside on the websites of both Fresh Artists’ and the School District of Philadelphia for one year.  

Fresh Artists is committed to level the playing field for our city’s children by designing and providing outstanding art programming and creative career education.  Now, more than ever, children need to participate in a project that is uplifting, promotes artistic excellence, keeps students connected to their peers and excited by their schoolwork and loudly acknowledged by their communities.

“Where I come from, we don’t have many opportunities, so when (the Flower Show) was presented to me I was shock and awe. One day I want my work to be shown to many people and this is the first step”  - Dayh’Von, Grade 11, 2021 Flower Show Young Artist

Beleaguered Art teachers called us to say,

“I jumped at the opportunity to participate in this fabulous flower project! The enormous array of teaching resources Fresh Artists always provides cuts my prep work down to “easily manageable”!

The hundreds of professional color photos, the rich, new vocabulary words, and Cool Jobs’ peek into real people with careers in the creative economy energizes me when I am at my annual teaching “low point. Standing in front of your student’s artwork, blown up to 4’ x 3’ at the Philly Flower Show is pure, golden joy for a teacher. And giving ALL student participants the honor of their art in a public digital exhibition gives every child meaningful acknowledgment, especially after an isolating 2 years.”

- Philadelphia Art teacher

“Out kids dove into this project! They were hungry for the challenge, the beauty and the healing power of flowers after Covid.” - Norristown Area School District Art teacher

Help us bring our talented young artists to the 2022 Flower Show!

If you’d like to help bring Fresh Artists kids back to the Flower Show, please consider making a donation today. Your support will make an immeasurable impact in a child’s life this school year.

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