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Lesson: Cultural Comparisons
A game, research, and cross-cultural comparisons are in the works as you open an artistic lesson. Upper graders get analytical as they make observations that will help them create a link between abstract and creative thinking. They...
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Lesson: Scaled Up
Do you ever think about what it takes for an artist to create a larger-than-life sculpture? Kids examine the piece, Scottish Angus Cow and Calf as it relates to scale, scale conversion, and artistic craft. They then use scale conversions...
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Lesson: Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
A great idea for a fun homework assignment! The class fully and critically analyzes Daniel Sprick's painting, Your Plans. They then generate questions to ask the artist as they attend a mock press conference. They pretend to ask the...
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Siesta Pillow
Students investigate the culture of Mexico through the medium of visual art. They conduct research using a variety of resources. The information is used as inspiration for creating their own pillows with the use of fabric markers.
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Lesson: Functional Fashion
Upper graders scrutinize the clothing worn by the vaqueros in James Walker's painting, Cowboys Roping a Bear. They pay close attention to the period style as well as the clothing functionality in the given context. Kids then design their...
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Lesson: Stepping into the Past
How have things changed from the past until now? Young art historians examine a screen painted in Mexico during the 1700s. They discuss the differences between a garden party then and now. They then write a journal entry about the party...
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Lesson: Lisa Signal: Altering Perspectives
Kids make big artistic gestures, just like the abstract artist, Lisa Signal. They use her work as inspiration for making simplistic, abstract, statements in an artistic way. They analyze her work, then walk through an unfamiliar...
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Mind Your Mannerists-Understanding the Art of El Greco
Kids become mini-experts on the Mannerist movement and the art of El Greco. They identify common elements of El Greco paintings and compare them to a work by Thomas Hart Benton. They use four ways to examine art taken from the book,...
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Lesson: Beyond First Impressions
Just like the colors and techniques used to create a vivid image, learners will use exceptional language to create vivid stories. They examine the techniques used to tell a visual story in the painting, Road to Santa Fe. They then use...
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Lesson: Text Messages
Can a neon sign be considered art? Kids consider two different works that use neon text as the basis for conveying artistic social messages. They then analyze a truism from Jenny Holzer's web site that holds meaning to them personally....
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Lesson: One of These Things is Not Like the Other
Kids kick of the lesson plan by comparing and contrasting the focus painting to other similar paintings of Native American women. They then compare their own personal portraits (photographs) in a similar way. They use the differences in...
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Lesson: Sensing a Different Way
Problem solving and creative thinking are top priority in an interesting lesson. Learners explore how they can think creatively to use four common objects in three different ways, they discuss senses and using senses differently to...
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Lesson: Urs Fischer: Reviving the Past Art Movements
Seven major abstract art movements are analyzed by learners in groups. Each group analyzes various works by determining which work belongs to which movement. They then read Flatland, engage in an art and literary analysis discussion,...
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Lesson Plan: My Space
Everyone has a special, personal space; here kids will create a collage that reflects that space. They analyze the painting Soup Tureen and Apple, review two poems, and then conceptualize a personal space through art.
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Lesson Plan: What We Value
How have values changed? How does our society influence our choices? Two great questions lead this discussion about food production, history, and cause-and-effect relationships. Pupils analyze a limestone relief from Assyria, research...
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Lesson Plan: Step by Step
Young authors examine a clay figure in order to learn about the 6+1 Trait writing process. They consider how the art was made or buit up step-by-step, they then write about a process in their own lives that occurs in a similar way.
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Lesson Plan: Sensory Exploration
Using their keen eyes and ears, learners build story observation skills which they will use to create sensory detail in their art. They note all of the things they observed on a walk, categorize them by sense, and then use the same skill...
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Lesson: David Goldblatt: Structures and Normativity, looking at Photography
Art can be a vehicle for social change and cultural expression. Upper graders examine the art of photographer David Goldblatt, as it pertains to apartheid, South Africa, and the AIDS epidemic. Discussion questions and image links are...
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It's All About the Brushstrokes
Afte analyzing the painting, Autumn Poplars by Camille Pissarro, learners explore self-expression through painting techniequs. They disucss the piece, consider Impressionist painting, and then create masterpieces that represent a...
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Lesson: Unmonumental: Fragmentation, Fragility, and Consumer Culture
Looking at art is the first step to analyzing it. And, if you can analyze art, you can analyze anything. Kids examine several pop art pieces that represent consumerism in modern culture. They discuss multiple facets of each piece and...
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Lesson Plan: How Coyote Came to Shuffle Off to Buffalo
Creative kids read, discuss, play-act, and sketch to examine the cultural significance of Old Man Coyote. They listen to several stories involving Coyote, analyze the Harry Fonseca painting Shuffle Off to Buffalo, and write Coyote...
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Color Scheme Acrylic Painting Self-Assessment
Being a good artist means being able to critique your own work. Here young painters will take a short quiz on color schemes in acrylic painting and then reflect on their use of color in a recently completed piece. A great worksheet for...
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Lesson: Urs Fischer: Your Choice: Reality or Illusion?
Young analysts write a comparative essay, but about what? They compose a paper based on several critical discussion about reality and illusion, and how both are blurred in art. They analyze several theatre pieces that exemplify Brechtian...
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Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Artist's Community: The Real
What is real or imagined? The lines of beauty reality, and imagination are blurred in Elizabeth Peyton's portraits of her community. Learners analyze her use of artistic technique in conveying real and imagined communities. They then use...