History labs invite students to examine primary and secondary source documents related to an essential question. The sources used in a history lab should represent multiple perspectives so that students are aware of the varying accounts of and opinions about historic events. By being exposed to multiple perspectives, students also learn about…

Every year, the author's eighth-graders do some projects on color mixing and color schemes. In this article, the author gives a twist to the basic color wheel. Using rough-draft paper the same size as the paper they would eventually work on, students were to figure out a way to divide it into six spaces. They were not limited to basic rectangles,…

Inspired by a beautiful bookmark one of the author's students made for him as a gift, he began a lesson exploring the vibrant bark paintings popular all over Mexico. The majority of his students have Mexican ancestry, so exploring the arts of Mexico is always popular and well received. Amate paintings can also be a great way to introduce the…

Having an answer to "When are we ever going to use this in real life?" is important to middle school mathematics teachers. The activity described in this article awakened sixth graders' understanding of how artists use mathematics. By exploring ratio and proportionality in different paintings, students realized the use of proportional…

The house paintings of the South African Ndebele people are more than just an attempt to improve the aesthetics of a community; they are a source of identity and significance for Ndebele women. In this article, the author describes an art project wherein students use the tradition of Ndebele house painting as inspiration for creating their own…

Many painters use lines to express powerful emotions. Both Vincent van Gogh and Jean-Michel Basquiat had difficult lives filled with hardship, and died at a young age. They both used art to deal with their emotions. It seems like the stronger the feelings were in them, the faster the strokes were put down in their work. In this article,…

Romero Britto is a wonderful artist for young students to study when learning the building blocks of art and design. Colorful, linear, and full of bold patterns, Britto's work blends a contemporary cubist style and pop art commercial appeal. Themes of this contemporary artist's work include animals, flowers, still life, and people in joyful…

Cutting a few CDs apart with scissors, the author found that the process created somewhat brittle shards. As a result, she started to paint a few with acrylic, finding to her amazement that the paint gave the CDs a leathery, more manageable texture. Upon further experimentation, she found that if the CDs are painted somewhat translucently in…

A great start for the semester, this pinwheel project provides a good dose of art history, and a variety of media and techniques. It also teaches students how to clean up and store things properly. Five artists are introduced, each with a different art medium and technique. In this activity, students are expected to: (1) study works by five famous…

There's something irresistible about squeezing out lines and shapes with a bottle of glue. It's fun, yes. But, even better: it's tactile. The glue dries slightly raised on the surface, lending itself to several exciting treatments. In this article, the author describes some activities that confirm how a simple art material like glue can be…

This paper explores the relationship between the natural world and its potential benefits to the art classroom environment. In particular, it considers the following research question: Can natural sound foster creativity? The study investigates the role of natural sound on creative ability in girls' intermediate schools (12 to 15 years) in Jeddah,…

In this article, the author describes a cultural collage painting project. Three things served as the impetus for this project: (1) a desire for students to explore the theme of "culture"; (2) an appreciation for the photo-montaged, layered images one sees in print media; and (3) noticing that projects from core subject areas hanging on the walls…

The technique of what people today call "collage" is not new. In Victorian times, elaborate art was created from bristly horsehair as a type of collage. The modern collage dates to the early 1900s when Picasso pasted newspaper on a drawing. In 1919 Karl Schwitters, a German artist, developed collage into an art form that was as important as…

In this article, the author describes a silk-painting project with a sea-creature theme for eighth-grade students. Other themes can be used such as geometric quilt designs, tropical rain forest, large flowers, Art Nouveau motifs, portraits and more. (Contains 2 resources.)

This article describes an activity in which students created and designed lampshades using artists' styles. This was a unique experience because while all of the students have drawn or painted on flat canvas, none of them had done dimensional painting in this manner before. Essentially, they were planning and creating murals in 3-D. The author…