Most students enjoy the printing process. Some may have experimented with printing in the past using found objects or cutouts made of cardboard. In this article, students create a design on a pie-shaped piece and then repeat it to make a radial design.

With ancient roots, basket making has been practiced since the earliest civilizations, and according to textile experts, probably pre-dates pottery. This is partly conjecture since few baskets remain. It is through evidence found in clay impressions that the earliest baskets reveal themselves. Basically, basketry construction is like flat weaving.…

Creating and exchanging Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) has been a rapidly growing trend. These miniature works of art are fun to make--and even more fun to share. The intrigue of developing these handmade treasures begins with the intent of creating art simply for the love of art. In this article, the author describes how her students made their…

A wonderful way to engage high-school students in sketchbook activities is to have them create journals that combine images with words to convey emotions, ideas, and understandings. Visual journaling is a creative way for them to share their experiences and personal responses to life's events in visual and written form. Through selecting and…

In this article, the author describes an art lesson that was inspired by Andy Warhol's mass-produced portraits. Warhol began his career as a graphic artist and illustrator. His artwork was a response to the redundancy of the advertising images put in front of the American public. Celebrities and famous people in magazines and newspapers were seen…

In this article, the author describes an art project wherein students make fanciful connections between art and medicine. This project challenges students to interpret "ear idioms" (e.g. "blow it out your ear," "in one ear and out the other") by relying almost entirely on realistic ear drawings, the placement of them, marks, and values. In that…

For some time, the author has wanted her advanced 11th- and 12th-grade art students to not just create in the classroom, but also at home. When this was not achieved with standard sketchbook assignments, she decided to "spice up" their homework/sketchbook experience by having them create their own artists' journals. She got her idea from a book by…

This year, many high-school teachers in the district where the author teaches experienced exam anxiety because midterms--as they had come to know and love them--were no more. For a variety of reasons, the semester exam schedule looked very different. More to the point is the new philosophy about exam content and format that underpinned the…

To educate one's students about recycling garbage, art teachers can plan an "anti-trash costume bash" to promote public awareness of the ugly, unhealthy, and costly effects of litter. Such an event was brainstormed by the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), a regional agency made up of the valley communities in Arizona working to…

Junk is an art teacher's best friend. Everyone has junk, but it takes a special eye to see beyond such unwanted items and give them new purpose. In this article, the author describes a lesson completed with her jewelry/metals class. Inspired by the artwork of Barbara Lenart Kazmer, who incorporates found objects into one-of-a-kind pieces, students…

Art teachers need to experiment with new techniques and materials in order to keep their art instruction fresh, and to avoid becoming droning bores with tired, repetitive projects. Usually it only takes a brief flip through any art-supply catalog for an art teacher to happen onto some previously unknown material that will inspire them and--when…

How do you teach the "same old, same old" in an interesting and inexpensive way? Art teachers are forever looking for new angles on the good-old elements and principles. And, as budgets tighten, they are trying to be as frugal as possible while still holding their students' attention. Enter exploding boxes! In conceptualizing the three types of…

In order to inspire her students to work in mixed media, the author chose to highlight the art of Jasper Johns and Robert Indiana, both of whom used numbers and letters as a main focus in their art. In this article, the author describes a mixed-media printmaking project. (Contains 2 online resources.)

This is a collaborative lesson written by the authors. The lesson pairs two unlikely grade levels together to complete a touching and unique collaborative project. The collaboration aspect of this unit opened up endless possibilities for future collaborations.

This article describes a series of public space projects based on the contemporary practice of interventionist artists who seek to creatively transform spaces and disrupt the ritual of the everyday. Two of the four public space projects were planned for school spaces: (1) a mock marathon during class transitions ("Monthly Meeting Marathon"); and…