National Gallery of Canada
Tantalizing Tessellations!
Examine repeating and intricate patterns with a study of M.C. Escher and a related art activity. Pupils view and discuss the artwork before creating their own tessellating patterns. Step-by-step instructions for creating a template are...
Dick Blick Art Materials
“Gawu” — African-influenced Tapestry
Here's a great way to combine environmental science with art. Kids use recycled materials to create their own Gawu, a tapestry made of discards. Although designed for special education classrooms, the activity is sure to engage all...
Curated OER
Sculpture of the Twentieth Century
Eighth graders examine various 20th century artists and their sculptures. They view and analyze slides, compare/contrast the artists' styles, and create an original sculpture.
Curated OER
Back To The Drawing Board
Learners recognize and imitate Leonardo da Vinci's unique artistic style. Through observation and practice, students capture the look of real things from many angles in actual space. They attempt their own still life drawing.
Curated OER
Learning about Tint and Shade- Van Gogh
Students explore tint, hues, and shades of color. In this art and color lesson, students observe and discuss Van Gogh's artistic style. Students mix paints to create a single hue background and add details to paint a nightscape of...
Curated OER
Poster Design - Contemporary Artist Research
Students use the internet to research an artist assigned to them. Using the information they collect, they create a poster showing the life and works of the artist. They become the class expert on this artist and and present their...
Curated OER
Family History Through Art
Students discuss various ways families and communities pass down oral and visual art forms to younger generations. This multi-subject introductory lesson prepares students to create a project about their own families.
Curated OER
Stewart's Boxes
Learners collect memorabilia and create shadow boxes in the style of David Stewart. They also compose a poem and explain their identity in an oral presentation. This is a rare lesson that works quite well for a variety of age levels.
Curated OER
Art Critic for a Day!
Middle schoolers practice evaluating art by creating a research project and presentation. They use the Internet and library to discover a piece of art or artist whom they feel has an impact on the world of art. Next, they create a...
Curated OER
African Ecology and Art
Explore Samburu culture as students examine art work by many artists and compare and contrast their styles. They view Kenyan images and find Kenya on the map. Students identify conflict in the animal world and draw animals and record in...
Curated OER
Coming Full Circle
Young scholars develop and design their own clothing line in this Visual Arts lesson about the intricacies of the fashion world. Emphasis is placed upon current and vintage designs, famous designers, and the development of individual...
Curated OER
"Impressionism Painting"
Help your class build visual literacy and artistic ability by having them create a unique impressionistic painting. They'll review impressionistic techniques, and then they'll set to work with paints and collage as they express...
Curated OER
Getting the Meaning in Pop Music
Critical thinkers compare the impact of visual versus aural perception in how they comprehend artistic intent. They consider the meaning of a set of pop lyrics first by reading them, then by listening to them orally, and finally viewing...
Fairbanks North Star Borough School District
Eric Carle Mural
Inspire first grade artists to learn about abstract and realistic art while reading Eric Carle's Where are you Going? To See My Friend. Young artists design and make a mural collage by tearing shapes of paper while comparing English and...
Sargent Art
Kandinsky - Inspired by Music
Who is Wassily Kandinsky? Introduce your young artists to the wonders of abstract nonobjective art through music. They'll listen to music as they cut, paste, and paint emotional works of art. The activity suggests the use of soothing...
Oglebay Institute
Post-Impressionism: Van Gogh Drawings
Turn your young artists into little Vincent van Goghs with a lesson plan on brush stroke style and color blending. Pupils practice the painting technique by sketching various shapes before recreating a van Gogh piece or creating an...
New Class Museum
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Portraits: Androgyny in Contemporary Culture
Portraiture, artistic expression, romanticism, and androgyny are discussed in a thought-provoking lesson. Upper graders first discuss and examine the history of portraiture and the elements common to the Romantic style. Then they turn...
Curated OER
Ceramic Sculpture: Lesson Plan
Three-Dimensional sculpture, the artists who create it, and ceramic techniques are all covered in this plan. Tenth graders take a trip to a local art museum, watch a presentation on clay sculpture, then design a 3-D art piece. They study...
Curated OER
Season Tiles: Ceramics Lesson
Each color holds its own feeling and these feelings are used to describe the four seasons. Youngsters create a color palate based on the four seasons, assigning various colors to each season. They each create four clay tiles, painting...
Curated OER
An Electronic Self-Portrait Lesson Plan - A Unit for Middle School
Using a photo of themselves for inspiration, learners create a multi-media self-portrait. A digital image of each child is taken, it is uploaded into the computer where is can be experimented with in a digital format. Young artists then...
Curated OER
Lesson: Elizabeth Peyton: Pictures of Royalty: The Imagined
Elizabeth Peyton is an artist who creates images of people (often famous) that she doesn't personally know. These images become part of her imagined community. Learners analyze her work, her community of imagined friends, and then create...
Curated OER
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...
Dick Blick Art Materials
Chenille Stem Stitchery
The works of Spanish painter Joan Miro are used to inspire young artists to create their own colorful works of art using stitchery canvas and yarn. Kids draw their design on plastic canvas using erasable crayons and then stitch the...
Curated OER
Emotion Painting
Budding artists explore the nature of emotion through artistic expression. They discuss feelings, colors, line, and design, mix colors and then create an emotive piece that expresses a singular emotion. There are three cross-curricular...