This handbook demonstrates how studio art concepts may be broken down into their simplest level, thus, allowing preschool and elementary students to work with one particular concept and technique at a time. Teachers are encouraged to coordinate open-ended painting activities with major study units taking place in the classroom. The fourteen…

Presents a unit for use in high school English classes on "A Short History of American Painting, Colonial Period Through 1900," and discusses how it was developed. The unit was used in the ninth grade, but it can be modified to facilitate the teaching of a variety of skills at any grade level. (JM)

Argues that classroom learning requires teachers who are keenly aware of everything that poetry and art bring to human existence, as well as an environment that is stimulating and peaceful. Describes elements of successful classroom environments. Suggests methods for teaching poetry and for inspiring students to create paintings. (AJL)

Describes a project about narrative in art that combines a study of art history with art reproductions. Explains that the students create before and after pictures on postcards for famous works of art. States that students were asked to choose an artist such as Norman Rockwell, Edward Gorey, or Jonathan Green. (CMK)

Describes an art lesson used with children in the third grade to help them learn about symmetry, as well as encouraging them to draw larger than usual. Explains that students learn about the belief called "Horror Vacui" of the Northwest American Indian tribes and create their interpretation of this belief. (CMK)

Presents a multicultural project used with fourth-grade students in which they created a three-dimensional totem pole using leftover cereal boxes. Discusses in detail how to create the totem pole. Explains that students learned about Northwest American Indians in class. (CMK)

Presents a junior high school student art project where three-dimensional art sculptures of surfing, snow boarding, or dirt biking were created. Discusses how the students created their three-dimensional works of art using a clay-slab technique. (CMK)

Describes an art activity in which third-grade students learned about elements of color and value by mixing paints to create new colors. Discusses in detail how the students created three snowmen using the colors they mixed. Includes learning objectives, list of materials, and a national visual art standard addressed in this lesson. (CMK)

Notes that the developments in microcomputers such as extended memory, sound and graphics capabilities, development of digitizing, and the introduction of paint programs have enhanced the usefulness of microcomputer technology in artwork production. Discusses digitizing and the features of paint programs, and the implications for art production…

Provides a lesson plan for teaching K-three students to analyze and empathize with a portrait by post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Describes background of the artist and the painting "The Postman Roulin." Suggests instructional strategies, activities, and evaluation methods. Lists bibliographical material relative to van…

Discusses problems in the teaching of art history to art students. Reports on a study in which student analysis and categorization of their own paintings and paintings of other artists became the primary activity of an art history course. Concludes that this approach enhances the use of art history as a source for students' own creative work. (CFR)

Argues that illusion is the separation between belief and knowledge; "trompe l'oeil" works by delaying knowledge so that belief supersedes. Presents five lessons: two concern "trompe l'oeil" and its ability to present believable illusions, the other three build on these, emphasizing illusionism, film, and aesthetics in relation…

Presents a lesson where second- and third-grade students draw imaginary birds after examining pictures of real birds to get ideas for various poses. Explains the use of colors where the students learn to blend colors using an art technique called "rainbow order." (CMK)

Presents an art project in which students create postmodern portraits of George Washington in the style of Andy Warhol's pop-art portraits. Each portrait incorporates a fact and six symbols associated with Washington. Describes the project in detail and lists the materials and project objectives. (CMK)

Provides information on china painting, focusing on Kurt Weiser, who paints on ceramics using china paints. Discusses his techniques and describes his work titled "Woman with Mongoose." Includes accompanying projects for art history, visual arts, language arts, natural science, and science or mathematics. (CMK)