Blogs

High School

Article

Retro Fun with Parody

Monday, September 11, 2023 | Michael Kerr

We start by discussing where we see satire and parody in pop culture. Students naturally wind up talking about “Weird Al” Yankovic or SNL (Saturday Night Live) Weekend Update—things ...

Read More
Article

Alter-Ego Books

Thursday, August 3, 2023 | Trish Klenow and Slater Mapp

What if there was a way to connect all of the beginning art exercises like perspective, value scale, and faces into a cohesive story? What if there was choice and depth from day one of your first art ...

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

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

Light Painting Portraits

Thursday, March 9, 2023 | Rebecca Cauchon Sutphen

Students love to explore photography through light painting (also called light drawing or light graffiti), a technique of moving a light source while taking a long-exposure photograph. Recently, my ad ...

Read More
Article

Prepare Yourself

Thursday, February 9, 2023 | Betsy DiJulio

In years past, for the last quarter of the school year, I assigned students in my drawing, painting, and printmaking classes one final project that was ambitious and appropriately demanding, usually a ...

Read More
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 ...

Read More
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 ...

Read More
Article

Making a Scene

Monday, September 12, 2022 | Cristina Pinton

In our AP photograph class, I start one of my favorite projects in the middle of the woods at sunset. Why? Dramatic, eerie fading light! Students are armed with a soft box (a type of photographic ligh ...

Read More
Article

Design with the Cell Phone in Mind

Wednesday, August 3, 2022 | Eric Gibbons

For this lesson, I wanted students to create and photograph an artwork that would become the wallpaper for their cell phones. They could express their personal interests if it was school-appropriate. ...

Read More
Article

Exploring Oneself through Artmaking

Tuesday, May 10, 2022 | Ben Hoffman

As a high-school art teacher and practicing artist, I explored this question with my students: “How does an authentic studio practice connect us to ourselves, to one another, and to the world ar ...

Read More
Article

Connecting with Identity and Place

Monday, April 11, 2022 | Abby Birhanu and Lori Santos

Adolescents are on a quest to discover themselves through their social relationships. For this lesson, we wanted to expand their quest to include a connection to place and community. Elements of Indig ...

Read More
Article

Art on the Fly

Tuesday, March 8, 2022 | Brian Sommersberger

Showing students that art can be drawn on nontraditional substrate materials was a great introduction before allowing them to draw or paint on their own flying discs. For inspiration, we explored a va ...

Read More
Article

Twelve Principles of Animation

Wednesday, February 9, 2022 | Rachel Wintemberg

I discovered the twelve principles of animation—the keys to teaching the art of visual storytelling. The principles act as a roadmap, helping animators transform written scripts into living stor ...

Read More
Article

Fingerprint Portraits

Monday, January 10, 2022 | Kathleen Sneed Petka

One lesson that really pushes students out of their comfort zones is finger-painted portraits. It’s a fun way for students to get loose and relax because they have to get a little messy and don& ...

Read More
Article

Bringing Play into the Art Room

Wednesday, December 8, 2021 | Keri Reynolds

I felt that my high-school students really needed a change from the tedium and monotony of their daily school schedules. I wanted to come up with a lesson that would give students a chance to unwind a ...

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