Our first issue of the volume year focuses on many aspects of connection. While teaching students about new artists, processes, and techniques, art teachers also prioritize building relationships and strong foundations. Young students transform the hallway bulletin board into a giant sheet music mural with lyrics promoting kindness, elementary students combine board games and fairy tales to develop fantastical illustrations, middle-school students embrace imperfections while making stained glass jewelry, high-school students work with limited materials to create balanced compositions, and more.
View This Issue
It is essential for art educators to build relationships that set the table for conversation, curiosity, honesty, and vulnerability. The idea of connection extends beyond art-making and learning about new artists, processes, and techniques. It is about understanding the world we live in, how we engage with others, and how art can impact the mind, body, and soul.
Read Article
For this lesson, I combined a few poems about kindness and then shuffled some words to come up with a new poem called “A Simple Act of Kindness” to use as lyrics. I discussed with our music teacher which song would fit best with the lyrics, and she chose the tune of “The More We Get Together” by Irving King. All students became excited when I explained the project and told them we were going to cover the hallway bulletin board with giant sheet music, but instead of normal musical notes, we would create notes that looked like fish.
Toys and board games that come to life? This could turn out to be something either really exciting or very scary. Seeing countless shows and movies in which this is a common occurrence got me thinking. I knew that I didn’t want this to be a scary task for my upper-elementary students; I wanted it to land more on the humorous side of art-making. At this age, it is important for students to follow their curiosity and imagine what could be. I wanted students to use their creative imaginations while working on this project.
The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts, is a wonderful resource for our students. Our third and fifth graders have been very fortunate over the years to attend exhibits for free. My students have limited exposure to museums, and for some, this may be their first visit. Our art department goes on a preview tour with the docents and provides images of the works that will be highlighted on the tour. This year, my students saw work by three different artists who inspired two different lessons.
The focus of stained-glass artworks is typically on the flawlessness and beauty in the perfectly organized and constructed design. Perfectionism is a trait that can be overwhelming at times, and for visual artists, it can be damaging to an in-progress artwork. I teach artistically and academically gifted students, and the majority display traits of perfectionism as well as emotional sensitivity and heightened awareness of self, social connections, and global issues. For this reason, I decided to develop a project that focused on embracing the imperfections, finding beauty in the broken, and harmony between color and shape.
Read Article
For more than thirty years, the Lions Club has promoted an international peace poster contest. Each year there is a new theme, and the contest is open to students from ages eleven to thirteen. Prizes are awarded at the international level and also at the local level. Given the constraints of my teaching schedule, I typically do not have students compete in art contests, but I decided to give this one a try, and I’m so glad I did. Not only did my students enjoy the project, but I also loved seeing them make connections between the environment, artificial intelligence, and watercolor painting. The theme of last year’s contest was Peace Without Limits.
For the enameling assignment in my high-school metal class, students combined the ancient technique of cloisonne enamel with the design styles of current graffiti. Our school is located in Los Angeles, which, along with New York City and Philadelphia, is one of the key places where graffiti first developed in the 1970s. From Venice Beach to retaining walls along the freeways, my students are continually seeing examples of graffiti.
Many students, especially at the secondary level, are preoccupied with how their finished artwork will look and how it will be perceived by others. This disposition leads students to focus on producing realistic-looking works of art that represent tangible things that they are familiar with. When students focus on creating realistic-looking products, they often miss out on experiencing the creative process. For this lesson, I wanted students to be present in the moment while they were making art. I decided to limit their materials to only paper, scissors, and glue. I chose paper because it is a simple and versatile material that can be manipulated and transformed in a variety of ways.
As art educators, we understand that feedback is essential for student growth. But how often do we consider how our own creative practices shape the way we provide feedback? Recently, I explored how engaging in personal art-making outside of the classroom could influence the feedback I give to students. What I discovered was transformative: Dedicating time to my own art practice and reflective journaling shifted my feedback from directive to collaborative and empathy-driven. I’m excited to share these insights and how they can enhance your art room.
Read Article
Few toys are more iconic than LEGO® interlocking bricks, which have been enormously popular since their introduction in Denmark in 1949. In recent decades, many artists have used LEGO bricks to create innovative works of art. Katherine Duclos, a multidisciplinary artist, transforms LEGO bricks into abstract compositions that reflect her engagement with her family, childhood memories, and her experiences as a neurodivergent woman and mother. Since 2022, she has also transitioned her keen eye for brilliant color combinations into installations and compositions of painted, layered window screens.
