Louisville, Kentucky is an eclectic town of architectural styles from Greek revival to Renaissance Revival to Post modernism, not to mention an entire street dedicated to artsy mom and pop stores. Louisville is second only to the New York City Soho district in terms of the number of its cast-iron facades. Many of these building's fronts have…

A variety of subject matter, including foliage, tree roots, branches, and flowering plants, provides opportunities to study spaces and shapes and offers connections to interdisciplinary study and environmental concerns in the artroom. This article presents a lesson that encourages students to investigate their local environment and take photos for…

This article introduces a new "perspective" on the typical landscape painting. It is an opportunity for art students to study the local ecosystem and native trees in their community. Other aspects of this assignment are the study of Symbolism and a new focus on the natural designs created by exposed tree roots. (Contains 1 web link.)

Each school year, the author's intermediate art students look forward to this unique self-portrait assignment. Chuck Close's photorealistic portraits are the inspiration for this assignment. The lesson incorporates technology using digital cameras and an image-manipulation computer program. The lesson is introduced with a brief overview of Chuck…