1st Floor

Adopt An Artwork

February 12 – May 10, 2026

Adopt-An-Artwork: Student Exhibition is a culminating exhibition that highlights the creative and critical thinking of students from across Delaware who participated in the Biggs Museum of American Art’s Adopt-An-Artwork program during the 2025–2026 school year. This year, 1,572 students took part in the program, engaging deeply with works from the museum’s permanent collection through sustained, object-based learning experiences in their classrooms .

Adopt-An-Artwork is an educational partnership between the Biggs Museum of American Art, teachers, and students that places original works of art at the center of interdisciplinary learning. Participating educators selected one of five artworks from the museum’s collection and received large-scale reproductions, digital resources, and classroom art supplies to support instruction. Through close looking, discussion, research, and creative exploration, students examined each artwork’s historical context, materials, themes, and relevance to contemporary life.

The exhibition features selected student artworks created in response to these lessons. While the original collection objects serve as inspiration, the student work reflects a wide range of personal interpretations, media, and subject matter. Some students responded to themes of nature, environment, and place, while others explored storytelling, identity, history, material culture, or social change. Together, these works demonstrate how a single object can spark inquiry across disciplines such as visual art, history, science, language arts, and social studies.

Displayed alongside the student artwork are interpretive materials that underscore the educational process behind the program, emphasizing inquiry, critical thinking, and creative problem-solving. The exhibition celebrates not only finished artworks, but also the role of teachers as curriculum designers and the importance of museums as active partners in education.