Since its inception in the fall of 1978, the Children’s Center has provided the Northeastern University community with high-quality childcare. Professionally staffed by experienced teachers and NU student assistants, the Center helps children build valuable social skills and develop their intellectual and physical abilities through engaging, hands-on projects. Above all, the Center strives to foster children’s natural love for learning.

Our annual exhibition of children’s art is a long-standing tradition with Gallery 360. The art show gives the Northeastern community the opportunity to see how children view themselves and their world. We believe that art is not only a topic that children enjoy; it is a valuable medium in which children can freely express themselves. Most importantly, the show validates that the children’s hard work can be appreciated by an audience, and that it is ultimately worthy of respect.

Our 2024 exhibition theme is Shape in Art. The projects on view explore elements such as color, shape, line, and texture. This year, the children had the opportunity to learn about different artists and to use a wide range of mediums and tools. Artists that influenced the children’s work include Reggie Laurent, Liubov Kuptsova, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frank Lloyd Wright, Stanley Whitney, Paul Klee, DeWitt Godfrey, and Yayoi Kusama, as well as authors Faith Ringgold and David McKee. Shape is a major throughline in all these artist’s work.

This year’s theme also allowed the children to become community photographers. Students went on a field trip around the campus and neighborhood, where they identified the shapes around them and took pictures of what they found. We call this project Shapes in the City.