Just what is the creative process? I asked my seventh- and eighth-grade students to consider this overarching Essential Question in Mix It Up, a trimester-long master class involving a series of three mixed-media visual art projects. Identifying the phases of the creative process and tracking their own experiences as we journeyed through printmaking, sculpture, and painting, students became aware of their own artistic process and the challenges and successes common to all innovative creators.
The lessons in this issue require time and persistence for students to develop essential skills and expand meaning and concepts. Young students build a temporary cellophane installation; a middle-school student documents his experience building a mixed-media body sculpture; high-school students re-imagine the large-scale works of contemporary artist Heather Hansen; and more.
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