Across Viewpoint, students, faculty, and staff are picking up paintbrushes and adding their own piece to a larger work of art.

This year’s All School Art Project is bringing the community together to create a large-scale collaborative installation centered on the idea that a community is made up of many individual voices, experiences, and perspectives.

During art classes, advisories, and department and team sessions, participants are using watercolor to create designs on paper plates that will ultimately be incorporated into the finished installation.

“Each participant will contribute a small piece of the larger artwork, and when those individual contributions come together, they will create something that no one person could have made alone,” said Visual Arts Department Chair Nell Yates.

The concept was inspired in large part by the Visual Arts team’s work with artist Hiep Nguyen. Through artist visits and a recent workshop in Chicago, members of the team had the opportunity to experience Nguyen’s approach to collaborative art-making firsthand.

That experience helped shape the direction of this year’s project.

“We wanted this year’s project to create an opportunity for our community to make art together without worrying about artistic ability, comparison, or having to create a ‘perfect’ finished product,” Yates said. “Instead, the focus is on participation, connection, and the collective experience of making something together.”

As individual plates accumulate, their different colors, patterns, and designs will eventually be assembled into a single installation.

For Yates, the project also builds on the sense of community created through The Art of the Poppy, Viewpoint’s first All School Art Project in 2024.

“I hope that participants experience how meaningful it can be to contribute to something larger than themselves,” Yates said. “I also hope they recognize that you do not have to consider yourself an ‘artist’ to make something meaningful. There is value in simply showing up, contributing, and trusting that your piece has a place within the larger whole of the community.”

The finished installation will reflect that same idea, bringing together different contributions, perspectives, and experiences from across the Viewpoint community.

Once complete, the All School Art Project will be installed in the Carlson Family Theater lobby, with an unveiling anticipated shortly after Thanksgiving break.