SAN ANTONIO, TX.- For the past eight years, the McNay Art Museum has engaged students K–12 with a single work of art in the permanent collection. Its award-winning Spotlight program invites students ages 5–18 to respond creatively to a masterpiece in the holdings of the first modern art museum in Texas. In 2018, more than a thousand students from 16 San Antonio area schools embraced Georgia O’Keeffe’s Leaf Motif, No. 2, creating their own artworks in various media. Now for the first time in the program’s history, selections will be on view July 12 through November 4 in Spotlight: San Antonio’s K–12 Artists Embrace Georgia O’Keeffe.

“This inaugural exhibition demonstrates the McNay’s commitment to the future of San Antonio,” said Richard Aste, Director of the McNay. “By inspiring—and empowering—tomorrow’s Georgia O’Keeffes and Diego Riveras today, at the dawn of their artistic evolution, the Museum can help cement our city as a global destination for creativity, compassion, and innovation.”

“My favorite thing about Spotlight is that it opens a dialogue between the McNay and our student visitors. It’s a chance for us to learn together and from one another,” said Kate Carey, Head of Education. “No matter where these brilliant young students go in life, they will always have a connection to Georgia O’Keeffe and the Museum where they first exhibited their art.”

The Spotlight exhibition features 95 works by 245 students, including painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, ceramics, mosaic, and carved plaster.

As part of the Spotlight program, McNay educators follow students through the creative process, provide in-classroom instruction, offer free museum tours, and lead hands-on experiences at school events. In May, the Museum displayed all 439 works produced by this year’s participants during a one-day Spotlight Celebration.

The McNay’s Spotlight program is generously supported by Rackspace.