Articles

Article

Surf’s Up

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | Jessica Provow

My school is located a few blocks from the coast, so naturally people in the area turn to the ocean for food, work, and play. The location also brings in tourism and events such as large-scale art sho ...

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Article

Oodles of Doodles

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | John Zilewicz

Recently, I was swiping through Instagram when I stumbled upon an art style called Doodle Art. Doodles are defined by Wikipedia as “simple drawings that can have concrete representational meanin ...

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Article

Focusing on Visual Literacy

Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | Jane B. Montero

Think back to the last image you saw. Was it on social media, TV, a computer screen, your cell phone? Or was it in a museum, library, or on a billboard along the highway? Every time we blink, turn our ...

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Article

Editor’s Letter: Collaboration

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Nancy Walkup

As an art teacher, you are in an excellent position to develop collaborative projects for your students. On a practical level, you can have students work in pairs or small groups, correlate lessons wi ...

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Article

A Cozy Collaboration

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Sue Liedke

Made from fabric or paper, sewn or glued, a class quilt is a simple and effective way to complete a collaborative project. Each student participates in the design process, and with careful preparation ...

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Article

Connecting with Chromesthesia

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Janice Corsino and Nani Naish

Students in their music class tapped into their synesthetic minds by listening to two compositions containing very different musical elements such as dynamics, rhythm, form, and tonality. Students ske ...

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Article

Sustainable City Games

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Melody Weintraub

Combinatory play was defined by Albert Einstein as “the act of opening up one mental channel by dabbling in another.” Considering the value of play in promoting productivity and creativity ...

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Article

Mindfulness Murals

Thursday, November 10, 2022 | Kristin Baxter

During the past two years, in collaboration with Northampton County Juvenile Justice Center (NCJJC) staff and residents, we completed six murals that now hang in the hallway near the residents’ ...

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Article

Storyteller Drawings

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | Melanie Robinson

During midwinter, storyteller and retired art teacher Sue Hinkel visits our school and tells stories to the third-graders. She also shares her outstanding collection of Native American clay storytelle ...

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Article

Juxtaposition Watercolors

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | Zoey Graf

Ask students to brainstorm what specific manufactured items are part of their everyday lives (e.g., buses, cars, roads, paths, bridges, buildings, desks, windows, litter, phones, computers). Then ask ...

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Article

Manipulative Photomontage

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | Christina Pinton

I present the challenge of gathering imagery (royalty-free images and their own photographs) and manipulating them to produce an imagined landscape. Students’ landscapes may include figures, bui ...

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Article

Honoring the Osage

Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | Elizabeth Barker

Students watched and listened to Norman Akers as he discussed color theory and technique while he painted. He also told them personal stories and made connections to Osage culture and history. In late ...

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Article

Editor’s Letter: Empathy

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Nancy Walkup

Empathy is the ability to recognize, understand, and share the thoughts and feelings of others. How can the power of art be used to both express and explore empathy? To explore the concept of empathy, ...

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Article

Growing Kindness Gardens

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Julia L. Hovanec

After the class engages with the picture book Kindness Makes Us Strong by Sophie Beer, students are introduced to the work of Jeff Hanson, who created striking, vibrant garden paintings and was known ...

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Article

Raising a Hand for Human Rights

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Teresa Strohl

My fifth-grade team wanted to give their students an opportunity to form a deeper understanding of human rights, the theme they were covering in their EL unit, so we collaborated to have students crea ...

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Article

Talk with the Hand

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Melody Weintraub

Doug Baulos’s work inspired me to think about idioms or phrases that use the word hand. I felt this might be a meaningful opportunity for students to combine word play with clay. I found a list ...

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