Penn Charter senior Emily Slawek contributed this photo to Project Sketchbook, which is transforming empty storefronts into art galleries.

A stroll down the Avenue is different these days. Instead of empty storefronts scattered along Germantown Avenue, captivating student artwork is on display.

Created through the collaboration of the Chestnut Hill business and community associations’ Vacancy Committee, this new pilot initiative provides an opportunity for student artists to display their work in the windows of vacant storefronts, transforming them into art galleries.

The Crefeld School, Springside School, Chestnut Hill Academy, and the William Penn Charter School are among the schools exhibiting work in the first installment of “Project Sketchbook,” modeled after Arts on South [Street], which will be on display through March.

Each school has been given freedom to fill the space assigned to it any way it desired, resulting in a wide range of art projects and art forms.

Penn Charter’s upper school students in the beginning and advanced photography classes selected two images from their portfolio, then made them monochromatic to match colors selected from a color wheel. When they install their work on the 8100 block of Germantown Ave. later this week, the 18 panes of glass will offer different views, based on the visitor’s perspective.

“We will have 40-plus photographs, each 8 ½ by 11, shown on the spectrum,” said Shelia Ruen, chair of Penn Charter’s Visual Arts Department.” As visitors pass by, they will move through the colors back and forth across the panes.”

Viewed up close, the exhibit includes images ranging from landscapes and portraits to household objects. When seen from across the street, it becomes a rainbow of colors.

“This is such a wonderful opportunity for our students,” Ruen said. “We had to create a site specific exhibit. We needed to explore how to work as a group to put together a series of photographs, we had to determine the best size for their work, how the colors worked together and which tools we would use to hang their work. There was much we needed to work out and I loved working with all of them on this.”

Although Penn Charter’s photography students’ work is displayed online through Google sites set up for each class, flickr.com, the school’s Web page and in live exhibits throughout the Penn Charter campus, the chance to exhibit on the Avenue is thrilling for the students, Ruen said.

Patricia Moss-Vreeland, chair of Visual Arts for Springside’s upper school, said she considered Project Sketchbook to be a wonderful opportunity for the art world.

“This is such a great thing for art because it’s about revitalizing a community through art,” she said. “Sometimes people have limited views of art, but when you put art in a neighborhood it serves to connect people, whether a mural or a storefront display, it connects us to each other, to the students and the school. We are thrilled to be participating.”

Moss-Vreland chose her Advanced Drawing Design and Painting class of 11th and 12th graders from Springside and CHA for this exhibit, and they selected a broad mixture of work completed throughout the year.

Students each have an area of concentration, but preparing for the display gave them an opportunity to push themselves into new directions as they explored new themes and discovered aspects of their abilities and interests they had not previously understood.

Creating their work is just one of the steps involved in an art exhibit, Moss-Vreland told her students. Last week the entire class visited the Lorenzon building – mounted work in hand – to prepare the window. Tasks included cleaning the glass, hanging wires, and deciding on work placement – each required collaboration and consensus.

As an experienced artist, Moss-Vreland teaches her students that art is so much more than just creating the work, that exhibiting is a huge aspect of life as an artist. She said Project Sketchbook offers students experience as an artist to create and prepare the exhibit space.

“This project was just incredibly cool,” Moss-Vreland said. “It has created a real bond in our class. Every aspect of this project reflects us jointly creating something special for those windows.”

Aaron Weiner, of the Crefeld School, has helped his middle school and high school students prepare art exhibits in the past for art shows on their campus. Like the other local art instructors, he is pleased to provide his students an opportunity to exhibit in a public arena.

The former Margarity car dealership will host his students’ paintings and glass sculptures. Works will include very small blown glass to paintings as large as 6 by 8 feet.

“This work represents a strong group of painters and is more abstractive than realistic,” he said. “The paintings tend to deal with texture, color, and depth of field. They are off the path of traditional to non-traditional and very, very expressive.”

Weiner spent many hours in his grandfather’s art studio, observing his grandfather and friends making art. Weiner said he learned at a young age the importance of tools and he shares this lesson with his students, making sure they are comfortable with tools and materials throughout the creative process.

Glass, Weiner explained, is much more traditional and demands technical competency before the sculpting can begin. He said the lesson of managing tools is an especially important one in this form of art.

Regardless of his student’s experience or proficiency, Weiner believes art can teach problem solving skills and help students overcome obstacles.

“You test what you know and what you don’t know. If the art doesn’t come out the way you expected, you try it another way – you just dust yourself off and keep going.”

Exhibiting is an area in which Crefeld students have much experience. The school often hosts shows displaying student works and requires students to determine what is going into the show, how it will be displayed, and which lighting is most appropriate.

Eileen Reilly and Rob Lamb are volunteers who have worked closely with CHCA and CHBA to bring this program to the Avenue. They are currently working on coordinating the second phase of the program, which will involve other schools and will be on display from March through May.

For more information on Project Sketch, contact Eileen T. Reilly at 2159190004 or Rob Lamb 2153706798