Art exhibit celebrates impact of teachers' relationships with students

As Es Swihart worked on her dissertation, which explores students’ self-worth and engagement, she sought a way to make her findings accessible to the public. 

While cleaning out her closet, the former Riverview High School teacher realized the answer lay right inside: a box of cards and memorabilia students had given her over the years. 

Swihart recalls thinking, “Wow, all teachers have these boxes and people don't get to see them." She began to envision a place where the contents of those boxes could be shared. 

The result was the exhibit "Above and Beyond: Teachers, Society’s Heroes” at the Sarasota Art Museum, created in partnership with the Education Foundation of Sarasota County.

The exhibit brings together "artifacts" from teachers that range from cards to full-blown art projects.

Uncovering the artifacts

Swihart said the efforts of the Education Foundation were a key part of the results, after staff began reaching out to teachers across the county in May. 

“They are incredible champions of teachers and the work they do, and are really committed to uplifting teacher voices, so they've done amazing work, getting teachers on board, and just supporting the whole process," she said.

Sarah Glendening, chief marketing officer of the Education Foundation, said the exhibition celebrates the importance of teacher-student relationships to academics.

“In her dissertation, (Swihart's) really working on that relationship between students and teachers, and how that is so important, not just in teaching academics, but really making it possible for students to thrive," she said. 

Photo by Ian Swaby

Located in the museum’s Community Gallery, which is open to the public, the exhibit draws many of the visitors who come during the museum's free days on the second Sunday of each month, said Connie Cuadrado, director of learning and engagement at the museum.

Part of the exhibit doubles as Swihart’s dissertation project for her Doctor of Education degree with a specialty in mind, brain and teaching, she has been pursuing with Johns Hopkins University, and which she successfully defended Aug. 21. 

Swihart is a 2018 Teacher of the Year in Sarasota County, and a current Teacher of the Year at the Out-of-Door Academy, where she is now an English teacher and Dean of Academics and Curriculum for middle and upper schools at the Lakewood Ranch campus.

The displays showcase creations of students of varying grades.

"It's coming from their heart,” said Laura Parker Samson, coordinator of school and community programs at the museum. “So, a really young child is going to write, ‘Thank you for being nice to me and and for liking me.’ And an older student is going to make some other gesture to say the same thing, but with all of the skills that that teacher has helped them develop.”

Photo by Ian Swaby

Swihart said a "beautiful, incredible" piece is a cardigan students created for Sarah Hufford, an IB Theory of Knowledge instructor at Riverview High School.

Students who were studying the impacts of the fast fashion industry sustainably created the cardigan, which showcases a variety of things they knew Hufford loves. 

“It really is one of those things that demonstrates how far students will go to show their appreciation, and you just know within that, the kind of impact that a teacher's had; she must have meant so much to those students in so many ways,” Swihart said.

Cuadrado highlighted a note from a fifth grader named Amalia, to art teacher Robin Morrissey-Jones at Lamarque Elementary School in North Port.

“Miss Jones, thank you for being the first teacher to be nice to me in this school,” the note reads. “You made my life change and think that someone actually needs/likes me."

“It is a little heartbreaking, but at the same time, feeling valued in that way from a teacher, that has to be life changing for a kid that is going to a new school,” said Cuadrado.

Photo by Ian Swaby

An online exhibit showcases additional items that could not be included in the museum, and is accessible through a touchpad at the exhibit. Also featured are story-gathering boxes, which allow visitors to write and share their own related stories.

Cuadrado said future opportunities will continue to celebrate teachers' relationships with students.

These include a partnership with the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, which in October will bring student bands and performers to the museum, as well as an exhibit to be created in partnership with Embracing Our Differences and featured in October and November.

“I hope people see that and reflect on it and celebrate it and think about it in their own lives, and I hope that they celebrate teachers," Swihart said. "It’s a hard time sometimes, I think, to be a teacher, and so, I just hope it boosts their value, in that there's a bigger cultural currency that results."