Describes a kindergarten art activity in which students created masks in celebration of Mardi Gras (New Orleans, Louisiana). Explains that the students learned about Mardi Gras and saw a coloring demonstration to prepare them for the project. Discusses in detail the process of creating the masks. (CMK)

Presents an art activity in which first grade students draw dinosaurs in order to learn about the concept of warm and cool colors. Explains how the activity also helped the students learn about the concept of distance when drawing. (CMK)

Provides background information on the Impressionism movement. Discusses the life of U.S. artist, Frederick Childe Hassam, and describes the content and techniques used for his painting, "Lower Manhattan." Includes suggestions for class activities and a reproduction of his artwork. (CMK)

Presents a personalized art activity that enables students, including those unenthusiastic students who think they lack artistic abilities, to participate in art. Explains that the students create a design or pattern within a pre-outlined silhouette. Discusses the process of creating the silhouette designs and includes an art materials list. (CMK)

Describes an art project suitable for middle and high school students in which they either combine identifiable parts from different animals to create one creature or take one animal and creatively distort it. Explains that this lesson enables students to be satisfied with their animal-inspired artwork. (CMK)

Explains that the best way for students to learn to recognize high-quality portrait photography is to study as many good examples as possible. Provides examples of portrait photography by David Hockney, Dorothea Lange, Edward Steichen, and Thomas M. Easterly in order to demonstrate different portrait styles and techniques and to promote…

Focuses on an activity in which the students in a beginning drawing class used middle-value brown paper and earthen shades of conte to draw pictures of bones in a desert environment. Discusses how the assignment teaches appreciation of the colors, sounds, and shapes of the desert. (CMK)

Discusses a fifth-grade sculpture project that uses a subtractive, rather than additive, technique. Students carve an animal sculpture from a block of simulated stone compound. Explains the process and how to make the simulated stone compound. (CMK)

Provides background information on Zimbabwean art and sculpture and Harry Chingono, a Zimbabwean sculptor. Includes reproductions of Chingono's sculpture "The King's Secret" and describes it in detail. Offers four ideas for learning activities. (CMK)

Describes an art assignment that focuses on surrealist composition. Students learn about Sigmund Freud, artists of the Surrealist movement, and characteristics of Surrealism. The produce thumbnail sketches, locate photographic images to use as references, and then create Surrealist artworks. (CMK)

Describes an art activity in which elementary students create collages similar to those of Julian Schnabel, learning to appreciate his work's meaning. Students select a symbol to represent an event or experience in their lives. Collages are created with acrylic paint and broken plates. (CMK)

Provides ideas for using throwaways and substitutions, such as homemade objects and everyday items, as art supplies and other resources in the art classroom. Throwaways and substitutions are a way to be environmentally caring, to extend meager supplies, and to supplement art budgets. (CMK)

Describes an art unit in which students sculpt a signature seal out of clay and use Chinese brush painting techniques to paint a scroll. Discusses the seal and its historical use in China. Lists materials needed and explains the procedure. (CMK)

Describes two art projects, one for second-grade students and the other for third-grade students, inspired by the artwork of Claude Monet. The second-graders created leaf prints to frame the Impressionist autumn trees they painted, while the third-grade lesson centered around the videotape "Linnea in Monet's Garden." (CMK)

Describes an art activity in which students create patterned booklets. Explains that the activity provides students with an opportunity to study pattern, rhythm, color, and shape while participating in hands-on learning. Provides a list of vocabulary and the exact steps of constructing the booklet. (CMK)