Rangeley Friends of the Arts (RFA) is a nonprofit arts organization in Rangeley, a town of 1,200 souls in the rural western mountains of Maine. Working with existing facilities and a largely volunteer workforce, the article explains how this group established Creative After School Arts, or CASA--a program that provides a safe home away from home…

Diana Al-Hadid's sculptures reflect the many locations, cultures, histories, and mythologies that have shaped her as an artist. In large-scale works which have the appearance of architectural ruins, Al-Hadid employs imagery drawn from many diverse interests including science and technology, history, and literature. She also incorporates images and…

For centuries people from around the world have celebrated storytelling and puppetry for their educational and social functions. In the comprehensive curriculum, storytelling combined with puppet performances enriches the classroom experience by providing students with opportunities to engage in open dialogue, creativity, and structured play.…

At first glance, a Zentangle creation can seem intricate and complicated. But, when you learn how it is done, you realize how simple it is. Zentangles are patterns, or "tangles," that have been reduced to a simple sequence of elemental strokes. When you learn to focus on each stroke you find yourself capable of things that you may have once…

While planning a print-making unit for her ninth-grade class, the author was looking for a way to extend a project beyond the usual boundaries to incorporate each student's personality. She also wanted to add a three-dimensional element. Her original project involved creating a linoleum block print of each student's face. In this article, the…

This article describes how to make a clay camera. This idea of creating functional cameras from clay allows students to experience ceramics, photography, and painting all in one unit. (Contains 1 resource and 3 online resources.)

In this article, the author describes a project in which his ninth-grade art students utilized a vinyl record as an unusual medium to create a work that exhibited solid design, great creativity, and strong craftsmanship. Students presented their pieces to the class for critique, explained the process, the media, and their feelings about their…

Good design brings the excitement of the Olympic Games into the visual realm of public media. Inspired by the design involved in the making of the Olympic Games, the author developed a lesson called Fashion Forward. Fashion Forward, which is taught to ninth and tenth graders, is based on the enduring idea that visual images are power communication…

Public art takes many forms, including commemorative sculptures, site-specific works, and collaborative murals. Additionally, public art can beautify an urban environment or raise awareness of social issues. Public works of art are a form of discourse and open conversations and dialogue, helping communities work toward unity and empowerment. Using…

Instructional strategies make a difference in whether students are engaged in learning and are profiting from their time in class. High schools, technology centers and middle grades schools are encouraging teachers to adopt new teaching techniques and are providing opportunities for teachers to work together to improve their instructional skills…

This Instructional Resources continues our 2004 series on forms of "public art" that included Susan Goetz Zwirn's contribution on images of work in the 1930s (March 2004), Carol Argiro's exploration of public sculpture (July 2004), and Mary Jane Zander's work on WPA post office murals (September 2004). This Instructional Resources explores an art…

Almost all early civilizations had mythological stories. From the great cradles of civilization--Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome--to the Mother Earth and Father Sky of the early Native Americans, myths have been part of the civilization of humankind. Typically, in this teachers' ninth-grade painting class, the students paint landscapes in…