Students’ storefront dioramas and ikebana flower arrangements are slated to replace other Harker pieces currently on display at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford University.

The change will take place in April, said Eric Hoffman, lower school art department chair K-Gr. 5. Two years ago, Hoffman decided students’ work deserved a public showing. He proposed the idea to his students, asking for suggestions on where they could exhibit.

One student suggested a hospital. Hoffman hopped on the idea and contacted LPCH. After months of planning with Susan Gray, administrative project manager at the hospital, and display specialist Ted Cohen, student works premiered in spring 2009. Sculptural pieces were placed in the hospital lobby on the second floor while paintings, drawings and prints were shown in the outpatient clinic and waiting rooms across the street.

The exhibits change at least once a year, so Gray and Cohen recently visited the Bucknall campus to select the dioramas and ikebana flower arrangements to be displayed at the main children’s hospital. They will be on the second floor. The replacement pieces, made by fourth and fifth graders, are currently on display at the Bucknall campus.

“For our students, this validates their art skills and efforts and gives them a sense of purpose knowing that their artwork made somebody else’s life a little brighter,” Hoffman said.