Lesson Plan
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Shaping Ideas: Symbolism in Sculpture

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students critique the symbolic structures created by other students. In this visual arts lesson plan, students display completed sculptures and drawings. Students analyze the symbolic elements in each others work, relate their art to...
Lesson Plan
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Looking and Learning in the Art Museum

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Students prepare for a trip to a museum and review the elements of art. In this museum and art instructional activity, students define the difference between looking at a reproduction of art and an original. Students identify the...
Lesson Plan
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Pattern Value Portraits with Light

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students use the elements of art and principles of design to explore value. In this color value activity, students use the portrait of a a face to help them understand color value, tints, shades and tones.
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Modern Mosaics (Grades 9-12)

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students explore the elements of contrast, emphasis, pattern, and color schemes by identifying how the artist manipulated tesserae in the mosaic. They create original mosaics by manipulating torn paper to depict different textures and...
Lesson Plan
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Do You See What I See?

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Students identify the characteristics of different painting styles in this lesson. They examine the essential elements that characterize the different styles, and further research one chosen style of artwork. They then create an...
Lesson Plan
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Science Meets Artistry: the Work of Cai Guo-Qiang

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students discuss and examine the work of artist Cai Guo-Qiang.  In this art lesson, students analyze how cultural and historical factors impact the visual arts. 
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Follow the Leader: Line in the Visual Arts

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students identify line in the composition of a number of art works. They explain how the artist's compositional choices guide the viewer's eye to important components of the image. Students identify sight lines in several paintings and...
Lesson Plan
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Op Art and Contrast

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders explore the Op art movement and the work of artists Bridget Riley, Victor Vasarely and MC Escher. the principles of contrast and how it can be used to create optical illusions is examined in this lesson.
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Art Criticism for Elementary

For Teachers 1st - 5th
Students view various pieces of art and identify their basic elements. Using the art, they present the elements to the class in a presentation. They answer questions and organize them into written form. They also write and reflect on...
Lesson Plan
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Malambo

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students use appropriate terms to reflect a working knowledge of the musical elements and use terminology from music and dance to analyze and compare structures of musical and other artistic works. They also identify the purpose of the...
Lesson Plan
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Landscapes: Real and Imagined

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Students examine three landscapes incorporating images from nature and the unconscious. In this art analysis instructional activity, students explore the artists' perception and impact on a subject. Students complete image based...
Lesson Plan
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Surrealism

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders research several surrealist artists, e.g. Dali, Magritte, etc., and analyze and compare their styles. They apply their knowledge to their own drawings in pastel of flowers and plants.
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Ideal Living

For Teachers 9th - 11th
Learners examine two artists Vasily Kandinsky and Marcel Breuer. In this artist analysis instructional activity, students explore the principles of Bauhaus and consider the elements of chair design. Learners identify the technique of...
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Transforming Everyday Objects

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students consider criteria for art and explore three works of art that challenge their definitions. In this art analysis lesson, students consider their definitions of art and how Dada and Surrealist artists challenged the conventions....
Lesson Plan
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Everything in its right place: An Introduction to Composition in Painting

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers investigate the meaning of a composition in the realm of the visual arts. The elements of an image are taught in order for students to answer the guiding questions that are presented.
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Angles in Art

For Teachers 5th - 9th
Students utilize their handheld and the Angles program to create a non-objective artwork. Images created by famous artists who have utilized angles in their art work are examined.
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Culture in Art

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners explore how cultural aspects of their lives are depicted in society. They view a video on Frida Kahlo and identify the cultural elements that she referenced in her work.
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Looking and Learning in the Art Museum

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
Young art historians review the elements of art by studying a reproduction of a work of art from a museum visit. They explain the difference between looking at a reproduction of a work of art and looking at the original...
Lesson Plan
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Animal skeletal design-reduction relief prints

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders compare and contrast various forms of artistic expression associated with specific groups of people, geographic regions, or time periods, specifically, art of Australia, and create art works using procedures borrowed from...
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Collaborative Collage - A Lesson in Creative Chaos

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Students examine the works of abstract and collage artists. They explore alternate methods of paint application that reinforce the elements of rhythm and movement and create collages based on these principles.
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Design: Line

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students employ an analysis and exploration of line use, to understand line in terms of design, style, and functionality. The learners experiment with line design. Understanding dynamic and diverse use of line will broaden students'...
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A New Approach to Developing Images on Clay

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students make story telling plates or tiles based on David Stabely's technique. They are shown slides of original work contemporary artists who are using nontraditional approaches to the clay surface. Students are shown work that David...
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About Life: The Photographs of Dorthea Lange - Images of Children in Dorothea Lange's Photographs

For Teachers 3rd - 9th
Students examine how visual artists tell stories with their work. In this visual art lesson, students study two of Dorothea Lange's photographs to find elements of art and narrative content, use descriptive language when discussing...
Lesson Plan
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Historical Witness: Social Messaging

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students complete activities to study the propaganda elements from various war times. In this war propaganda lesson, students compare and contrast works of art from various viewpoints about war from varying social periods. Students...