This digital art assignment was a winner with both my hybrid and remote students! This is easily doable as a fully remote lesson if students have a Google Drive account. Using the program “Google Draw”, we drew colored “tiles” over an image of our choosing, piecing them together much like how a traditional mosaic is…
This year, Dragon Eye Sculptures have been the hot new lesson filling the feeds of the various art teacher social media groups I belong to! Many teachers have posted small examples made with polymer clay or air-drying clay, such as Crayola’s Model Magic, but I wanted to go a little bigger and try it using…
This year my school adopted a new schedule. Now, instead of seeing my classes daily for 47 minutes, each day we drop one period. In addition, each class has one weekly “long block” that is 68 minutes as opposed to regular 47. The result of this schedule is that it is much more difficult to…
Students began this lesson by sketching out a fish, using assorted reference photos and pictures to keep the fish realistic looking. We cut out our paper fish and traced it on a rolled slab of clay, using a needle tool to cut the fish shape out of the slab. Add-on additions were applied using the…
We started with a photo shoot! For these self portraits, students posed while expressing a strong emotion. Later, they traced on acetate placed over their 8” by 10” photo printout to capture the essence of their likeness. We then projected these transparencies with an overhead projector to enlarge them. The painting of their portrait…
These small, square books “explode” into a series of square and triangular pages when you open them. Each student constructed their own book with decorative papers, cardboard, ribbon, and construction paper. But... this lesson began as a mystery project! Before they even knew we were making books, students were asked to be spontaneous and free…
Use Arrows above to toggle through examples! SUMMARY: We began this lesson by creating a series of oil pastel-patterned papers. Working with distinct warm or cool color schemes, the students created a total of four patterned rectangles with different mark-making techniques. We then tore each paper in half and glued it onto a solid piece of colored paper,…
A blog about art education and the hobbies of a Midwest art educator.
These craft room organization ideas and hacks will knock your socks off! Find the best tips and tricks to finally get your craft room under control.
Trash becomes art! My 7th grade students made these beautiful low relief sculptures with paper towel and toilet paper cardboard tubes! After measuring and cutting the tubes into 1/2" rings, students shaped the pieces by folding, cutting, curling and bending. They created arrangements on 8” squares of cardboard and fixed them in place with white…
My 7th grade students painted and cut out the sunflower shapes on this bulletin board display! Globally, awareness of the association between sunflowers and Ukraine has grown since Feb. 24, 2022, the first day of the Russian invasion. However, the flower has an even longer history in the country. Sunflowers have been grown in Ukraine…
The Studio
This interdisciplinary lesson linked art with a unit the students were also studying in science class: biomes and ecosystems. In art, each student was assigned a specific biome to research. Biomes are globally similar areas that may be found on different parts of the planet, such as desert, tundra, coral reef, temperate deciduous forest, etc.…
An art education blog full of lessons, classroom management ideas, and classroom decor resources.
While we were in college, Jeff’s parents moved from our hometown in New Jersey to South Florida and for our first married Christmas together we headed to their neck of the woods! We took a day trip to Miami basically for one sole purpose… Wynwood Walls! I’ve seen this mystical, magical place all over Instagram …
Christmas art lessons that teach your students the valuable skills you need them to have to progress. Christmas art projects and lesson.
"TEACHER SUPER POWERS" REWARD POWER = ENCOURAGEMENT, INCENTIVES & PRIVILEGES The teacher has the power to rew...
"Chromatic Cascade" by Jen Stark, Los Angeles Jen Stark herself! Parking Garage Mural by Jen Stark, Los Angeles Jen Stark is a Los Angeles based artist known for her psychedelic, brightly colored public murals, many of which feature layers of drip-like forms. I found a middle school lesson online in which individual…
Guess what? Just as we transitioned to remote learning in the spring of 2020, the trimester changed! That means the 100 kids I had been teaching daily for 12 weeks moved on to their next exploratory class, (health,) and a new team of 95 students started art... REMOTELY! Teaching art remotely is tough enough, but…
