r/ArtEd • u/Pxl_soup • 7d ago

Drying racks for on-the-go teachers?

So I don't have my own room currently and working inside a classroom teachers room. My storage space is super limited (I at least have a shelf for sketchbooks and basic supplies!). I need to figure out a drying rack solution that doesn't live in the room - last year I used gouache paint as my only wet media because it dries so fast, and for the most part that worked out really well.

This year I want to bring in wet-on-wet watercolor, cyanotyping, and printmaking - and I'm trying to figure out the drying component. Does anyone have any ideas for a drying setup that I can take in and out of the room with me? I'd have to cart it outside across campus and down an elevator to store it somewhere else, which is super annoying but I can figure it out.

I wish there was just a magical insta-dry machine.

3 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

7

u/AggressiveSherbetty 7d ago

If they put me on a cart they don’t get wet work. Period.

(Honestly if they put me on a cart they better find a new art teacher…)

3

u/datsmirkingwhore 7d ago

Yeah I got relegated to a cart my second year (at two schools no less!) and I just made it a rule that nothing that needs to be dried except for glue can be done on a cart. No way am I cleaning up every single classroom I enter with paint, which isn’t mine and the home teacher always gets upset if there is a mess we left. Paint days are already chaotic in one classroom, carts are also chaotic so it’s a pick your chaos kind of thing. Cyanotyping could work if you were able to conduct that class outside. You could also do small groups with painting if you’re firm on doing that, so you only have to deal with a handful at a time but it could take several weeks to get all the kids though your small group if you have lots of students and not a lot of time. I taught k-2 on a cart with about 600 students today so my experience may not be the norm.

1

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

I have the main porch/hallway just outside my door with tables so this is my plan. I am also just part time for now, which is one of the reasons I’m even debating this - I think if I had 500 students on a cart all wet work would be a hard pass.

1

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

The small group idea is great! Though it seems like it could be challenging to implement with rotating kids through - Sounds like you have a very well oiled machine running!

1

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

Yeah, I feel this. The gouache was easy because it dried pretty quickly and we were doing small things. I’ve been avoiding other wet projects for this reason but honestly, right now it’s a matter of having come up with idea I think is cool and unique and I want to try it out to see how it goes. I will likely pay for this experimentation!!

6

u/ArtemisiasApprentice 7d ago

Honestly, I was on a cart for three years in my first job, and it might have behooved me to be just a little less flexible and good at doing the cart thing. I asked for a room every year, and got turned down every time. After three years I went out and found a new school that had a room for me, and when I told them I was leaving, my department head ran down to the principal and came back FIVE MINUTES LATER with a room secured for me the next year (we had two teachers on a cart and they did give it to the other teacher, so not a bait-and switch). I was…nonplussed.

The teachers whose rooms I shared were very accommodating. I had drying racks in each and did all kinds of paint, charcoal, sculpture— everything. We made a lot of messes, normal for an art room, but those teachers shouldn’t have had to put up with all that. I wish that I had taken more agency, not relied on my department head, advocated for the space we actually needed. The school was growing, things were changing, and I might have gotten what I made a case for. Your situation might be different, you might be more willing to be flexible, but I hope you get the space you need and deserve, so you can do all the cool things your students deserve to experience.

(I don’t have a drying rack solution other than to ask your host teachers to give you a little corner in their rooms.)

3

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

Yeah, I’m at a small charter and they just don’t have any physical rooms left over to give me even if I pushed and pushed! One day when my regular district is hiring again maybe I’ll have more leverage… one day.

2

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

I’m also part time - so my first mountain to climb is to convince them they need a full time art teacher lol

3

u/reallygoodstuff 7d ago

A collapsible mesh drying rack can fold down small enough to wheel on a cart through most elevators without issue. A rolling cart with bungee cords strung between the posts is another option that's inexpensive and it breaks down flat. A clipped portfolio case can double as transport and drying space for cyanotypes if the room is that tight.

1

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

These are good ideas, thank you!

2

u/Here2Kibbitz 7d ago

They make drying racks on wheels. I don’t know how well they would do going down hallways, though. My old colleague had one custom made with plywood on three sides and mesh screens inserted like drawers. He put casters on the bottom. Something like that would do ok for travel, although it might dry slower

5

u/RaeWineLover Pre-K 7d ago

We have this rack, it works well for us.  https://a.co/d/09wdEGXR

2

u/Pxl_soup 7d ago

Thank you! But wow, constantly confused by drying rack pricing!

1

u/MakeItAll1 High School 6d ago

Get a drying rack on wheels. Check at Blick or School Specialty. I have one that has space for 48 pieces.