In contemporary art, many artists have incorporated playful and functional elements into their artistic expression beyond the conventional perception of art merely as an appreciated object. In this article, the authors touch on the movement of art in daily living and explore the playful, functional, and interactive nature of art by Tin Yan Wong, a…

This article outlines an activity that uses sculpture with pre-service teachers to facilitate the creation and articulation of their educational philosophies. The author describes the purpose and added benefits of this activity. A short review of relevant literature embeds arts based practices in historical foundations as well as in a growing…

Three independently developed educational leadership courses used the arts to depart from lecture and passive learning, prime students to solve school problems creatively, and build social justice awareness. Photo captioning was used to promote intrapersonal leadership development around professional identity formation and social justice awareness…

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…

What does an introduction to and engagement in performance art offer K-12 students? In this article, we respond to this question by proposing a lesson inspired by the artmaking practices of the contemporary artist Erwin Wurm. Performance art can be defined as any form of work that combines the artist's body and a live-action event with or…

Seizing ideas from chance encounters and combining them in new ways produces innovative and exciting art experiences for students and teachers alike. Such was the case when the author received a book of postcards with photographs of original art made from discarded computer mice by San Francisco artists. In this article, the author describes an…

Writing about the teaching artist practice should mean writing about art making. As both teacher and artist, the authors are required to be cognizant of their own art-making processes, both how it works and why it is important to them, in order to make this process visible to their students. They also need the same skills to write about how and…

In this article, the author describes an art project inspired by Henry Moore's sculptures. This project consists of two activities. In the first activity, students select, sand and stain a wood block that would become a base for their plaster sculpture. This activity would keep the students independently engaged (classroom management) while the…

Most parents and educators are not as familiar or comfortable with the developmental stages that may also occur in three-dimensional work, yet no doubt a similar progression exists. Is there a scribble stage in sculpture? Do children need to master one set of skills before they are able to move on to the next? Do students have opportunity and…

Each August, third grade artists at Apple Glen Elementary in Bentonville, Arkansas, start the school year planning, creating, and exhibiting a clay relief mural. These mural projects have helped students to acquire not only art knowledge and techniques, but an even more important kind of knowledge: what it means to plan and successfully complete a…

How high school students used foam to create three-dimensional forms on a large scale is described. The students made sculptures that they wore in a Mardi-Gras celebration. (RM)

In Kathleen Loomis's preschool classroom at the Bennington College Early Childhood Center, the goal for children is not to produce beautiful and expressive artworks or to learn specific methods of working with art media--although those things do happen. Here, the curriculum is built around the philosophy that learning to think and create with art…

In this article, the author describes how her art class students were able to create, in just four class periods, clay relief plaques depicting nature. A lesson on texture speeds up the completion of such a project. Seeing that clay is a natural material with its own unique texture, it seemed fitting that the final product should depict a variety…

Contemporary ceramic artist William Daly's stoneware work entitled "Shang Play" is discussed. Art activities to help elementary and secondary students learn about ceramic art are suggested. (RM)