Open House
Beauty in the Life of the Lower School
Great Hearts Irving’s Core Purpose is to cultivate the minds and hearts of our students through the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty. Of these three, the roles of truth and goodness are, perhaps, more straightforward. As stated in Our View of Learning, “We believe that truth exists…. Truth is never just ‘my truth’ and ‘your truth,'” there is one truth that teachers and students seek together through “disciplined study and good-willed conversation.” At Great Hearts Irving, we assert that out of this truth flows standards of goodness and moral virtue. Alongside a love of the truth, a humane education which speaks to the whole person seeks also to cultivate in our students love of goodness, knowledge of right and wrong, and the courage to pursue it diligently.
What is perhaps less obvious is the question of how beauty fits in, but it is a question of crucial importance—especially in a school for young children. As James S. Taylor says in Poetic Knowledge explaining the educational program laid out by Plato in the Republic, “songs, poetry, music, gymnastic—[these] are meant to awaken and refine a sympathetic knowledge of the reality of the True, Good, and Beautiful, by placing the child inside the experience of those transcendentals as they are contained in these arts and sensory experiences.” The only way a child can be taught what is beautiful is to encounter it. At Great Hearts Irving, we seek to immerse our scholars in beauty at every turn—beautiful language, beautiful music, and, of course, beautiful images.
Gallery Night
Gallery Night is a celebration of beauty in the life of our school. Each year, Gallery Night is an opportunity to celebrate the care and diligence poured by our students into their creations made in imitation of the most beautiful works in our artistic tradition as well as the sublime installations of artwork that adorn our hallways. Gallery Night is an opportunity for our parent community to experience the same beauty our scholars do every day. You are cordially invited to our third annual Gallery Night.
Open House
We are delighted to host this year’s Gallery Night as an Open House. The evening will feature displays of our students’ artwork that parents will be able to take home with them, the opportunity to view the artwork in our hallways (including a number of newly-added paintings!), and, of course, fellowship with your child’s teachers as well as other parents from our school community.
Paintings New and Old
Not only do our halls feature high-quality reproductions of some of the most beautiful and important works of art from the Western Tradition, but the works are hung strategically throughout our building to mirror the curriculum our students experience in each grade level. That means that, as our year progresses, our students gradually gain a better and better understanding of the works of art in the hallway outside their classroom. At Gallery Night, ask your second grader if she can tell you the story of Daedalus and Icarus, your third grader if he remembers learning about Horatius at the Bridge, or your fifth grader about the kind of perspective featured in Renaissance art.
We are delighted to have recently acquired even more works of art to adorn our hallways and inspire our minds and hearts with their beauty. These are now on display throughout our building. Come see what’s new!
When and Where
Wednesday, April 19th, 2023
5:30 to 7pm
Great Hearts Irving Lower School
3350 W Story Rd
Irving, Texas 75038
Park anywhere in the parking lot and enter at any door. Please drive courteously.
Artwork Sponsorships
Each year at Gallery Night we have also offered parents the opportunity to become sponsors of the beautiful works of art that hang in our hallways. We were truly humbled by the response that we received, and those sponsorships are now included on permanent plaques next to the work of art as a lasting memorial to the generosity of this incredible school community.
There are several works throughout the building which have yet to be sponsored—most especially the newest additions to our walls. If you may be interested in sponsoring one of these works in the amount of $100 on behalf of a student, a loved one, or just your family, you will have the opportunity at this year’s Gallery Night as well. As before, sponsors will have their donation memorialized on the plaque for the work they sponsor. Please bring cash or check.
Here are just a few of our beautiful pieces that are still available for sponsorship:
Jacques-Louis David’s The Oath of the Horatii is a masterpiece of the Neo-Classical movement and memorializes the moment that the Horatius brothers vow to die rather than give up the defense of the nascent Roman Republic against the tyrannical Etruscan king Tarquin the Proud.
Henry Ossawa Tanner was the first African American painter to gain international acclaim. While he is known primarily for his religious works, his portrait of Booker T. Washington celebrates Washington’s legacy as an educator and leader and is a work we have been delighted to add to our collection recently.
Another new addition is Blue Bonnet Field, Early Morning, San Antonio Texas. The son of painter Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, Julian Onderdonk’s deep love of his Texas home is prevalent throughout his work, as is his time spent studying under American impressionist William Merritt Chase. Onderdonk’s lasting legacy in the world of Texas art has earned him the moniker, “the Father of Texas painting.”
Questions about Gallery Night? Please reach out to Thomas.Beyer@greatheartsirving.org.