Blogs

Article

Hold On to Your Hats

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Leigh Drake

One of my goals is to educate students on the many art-related careers available today. I believe it’s important to start this conversation early to allow students to explore options that are th ...

Read More
Article

Go Play with Your Toys!

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Michael Sacco

In the Spring of 2020, we were all working remotely with our students. I ditched any hope of following my usual curriculum and focused on finding imaginative and exciting assignments that would help s ...

Read More
Article

Contorted Portraits

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Wendi Sparks

Using oil pastels, my Advanced Drawing students tackled portraits with vibrant color and expressive style. My strategy for helping them work with bright colors is to first research examples of differe ...

Read More
Article

The Drop-In Art Studio

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Cathy Simino

During the last period of the day at Dover-Sherborn Middle School, students in grades six through eight are fortunate to have several options on how to use their time. Their choices include an open mu ...

Read More
Article

Editor’s Letter: Play

Tuesday, May 9, 2023 | Nancy Walkup

To what degree does play find expression in your art room? I have always found it to be a benefit for both me and my students. For a variety of perspectives, I asked our contributing editors to share ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Gems of the Month: Contemporary Japanese Tea Bowls

Monday, May 8, 2023 | Karl Cole

This month’s gems are contemporary artworks that serve the ages-old Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu or sado). Tea drinking was first introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710–794) aft ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

May Day Artist Birthday: Cecilia Beaux

Monday, May 1, 2023 | Karl Cole

The American Renaissance was a period when more American artists traveled to Europe in order to enrich their artistic vision. They brought back such styles as Impressionism, Dark Impressionism, B ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Spring Green from Gary Hume

Monday, April 24, 2023 | Karl Cole

In my ongoing celebration of spring, I’m featuring British artist Gary Hume. His Spring Angels series of eight screenprints sets just the right tone with their vibrant colors. In some of the pri ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

A Young Wheat Plant for Spring: Hamada Shōji

Monday, April 17, 2023 | Karl Cole

As an avid learner of the thousands of years of Japanese ceramic arts history, I am always excited to contemplate an artist’s work that I had never studied carefully before. Shōji Hama ...

Read More
Article

Thinking Like Contemporary Artists

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Megan Jell

At the start of the school year, after a year of hybrid, virtual, and dual modes of instruction, I noticed a strong resistance to risk-taking in the art room. I needed to retrain my students to take r ...

Read More
Article

Masked Identities

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Aimee Fresia

I researched contemporary artists and discovered the work of African American painter Jeff Sonhouse (b. 1968, New York). Sonhouse creates large, realistic paintings using colorful patterns and burnt m ...

Read More
Article

Considering Contemporary Art-Making

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Richard Kim

To access contemporary art-making, allow students to explore options within formal for traditional art-making ideas without giving specific stipulation as to what is “better or effective.” ...

Read More
Article

Postmodern Portraits

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Trish Klenow

When creating a great postmodern portrait, embrace the cellphone, the selfie, and TikTok. They are ever-present resources for this generation. We’ve come a long way since glamor shots at the mal ...

Read More
Article

Editor’s Letter: Contemporary Art

Tuesday, April 11, 2023 | Nancy Walkup

To bring in multiple perspectives for this month’s issue on teaching with contemporary art, I asked our SchoolArts contributing editors to offer their thoughts about why students should engage w ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

Celebrating Spring with Color: Eliot Clark

Monday, April 10, 2023 | Karl Cole

As anyone can probably guess when reading this blog, I’m a big enthusiast of American Impressionism. There are just so many unique personal versions of the style, it’s hard for me to ...

Read More
Curator's Corner

World Landscape Architecture Month: Ginkakuji Temple

Monday, April 3, 2023 | Karl Cole

Landscape architects around the world make works of art out of the natural environment. Every culture has aesthetics that guide this work. In the case of traditional dry gardens in Japan, Zen Buddhist ...

Read More

Always Stay in the Loop

Want to know what’s new from Davis? Subscribe to our mailing list for periodic updates on new products, contests, free stuff, and great content.

Back to top