Stockbridge, MA, February 26 2019—While its acclaimed exhibition Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & The Four Freedoms continues its international tour this year, Norman Rockwell Museum is once again teaming up with New York’s Capital Area Art Supervisors to present an exhibition of student artwork closer to home, exploring what freedom means for a new generation. Reimagining The Four Freedom: Student Works from the Capital Region will return to the Museum for its forth year, with an exhibition on view from March 16 through April 14, 2019.

Reimagining The Four Freedoms will display original artworks, created in a variety of mediums, by New York State high school students, grades 9-12, enrolled in Studio in Art classes in Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady County. Each work will relate to a freedom most important to the individual student. Participating high schools include: Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Bethlehem, Columbia, Mohonasen, Niskayuna, Rensselaer, Schalmont, and Scotia.

“This year is especially thrilling knowing that we are part of the anniversary celebration of Norman Rockwell’s original Four Freedoms,” notes Sheila Elario, a retired K-12 instructional administrator for Art and Design at Guilderland Central School District and member of the Capital Area Art Supervisors, who organized the exhibition. “Together, we are amazed at the students thought process and how they have clearly given pause and determination to express themselves. It is exhilarating to see how students transfer their ideas and beliefs into a piece of art. We love seeing how they all have reimagined the Four Freedoms in this age of digital, social media, and other variety of mediums available to work with.”

“For the past four years we have looked forward to seeing the students’ work for this display,” adds Norman Rockwell Museum Curator of Education Tom Daly. “The exhibition gives our visitors and staff the opportunity to see what is on the minds of Capital District high school students, while reminding us that freedom comes in many forms.”

A special closing reception for the artists and public will be held on Sunday, April 14, from 2 to 4 p.m.

About Capital Area Art Supervisors

The mission of the Capital Area Arts Supervisors is to ensure that all regional K-12 students experience creative and critical thinking for life-long learning through visual arts education as a means to fostering personal growth, community involvement, and social and career development.

Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & The Four Freedoms
On view at George Washington University Museum
and the Textile Museum through April 29, 2019;
and Caen Memorial Museum, Caen France, June 4 through October 27, 2019

Enduring Ideals: Rockwell, Roosevelt & the Four Freedoms explores how Norman Rockwell’s iconic1943 paintings came to be embraced by millions of Americans, providing crucial aid to the War effort and taking their place among the most indelible images in the history of American art. It is, in effect, the story of how the images were transformed from a series of illustrations into a national movement that united the country behind a common cause.

The exhibition, which provides a rare opportunity to see Rockwell’s images together outside their permanent home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, will illuminate both the historic context in which FDR articulated the Four Freedoms and the role of Rockwell’s paintings in bringing them to life for millions of people, changing the tenor of the times. It will additionally show how the Four Freedoms paintings were precursors to a sequence of works spanning three decades in which Rockwell addressed significant social concerns, from civil rights to the nation’s role and responsibilities at home and abroad.

Learn more: rockwellfourfreedoms.org