In this article, the author describes how her third-grade students made self-portraits that are simpler and less frustrating using paper collage. The variety of work from this project is amazing and captures personality and style. (Contains 1 online resource.)

Mehndi, a traditional art form that dates back to before the twelfth century A.D., are temporary works of art created by painting with henna plant extract. Henna stain found on the fingers and toes of mummified pharaohs has led some people to believe that mehndi can be traced back to ancient Egypt. Indian weddings are not complete without a mehndi…

Recently there have been calls to expandSTEM education to include the arts and design, transforming STEM into STEAM in the K-20 classroom (Maeda, 2013). Like STEM, STEAM education stresses making connections between disciplines that were previously perceived as disparate. This has been conceptualized in different ways, such as: focusing on the…

In an art class, children browse through space-age knobs, robot antennas and gyroscopic signal searchers. They extend space needle antennas before turning on an old TV. They discover the sights and sounds of televisions past, hearing the hiss, the gathering power, and seeing the blinking eye, the black-and-white light and blurry images projected…

Students have completed their two-dimensional drawings, paintings, prints or collages, and there they are--in a neat stack on a shelf. They deserve to be shown to the students, fellow teachers, visiting parents and administrators. They need to be matted or mounted, and placed on exhibit in a corridor, hallway or special bulletin board. By matting…

The term "Scribble Stage" highlights how first efforts appear in student independent work. Age does not correlate with "scribble" work as does experience; upper grade students and even adults will often approach new materials and techniques in an experimental manner as a means to become familiar with them. Everyone is a beginner at the things they…

A humid summer haze covers the River Seine and the grassy bank where young men and boys go swimming on Sunday. Everything seems so quiet, still, and very hot. They wear hats to protect them from the hot sun. The artist Georges Seurat used warm tones to give viewers the feeling of the hot sun. Seurat was trying to catch the dazzle of hot sunlight…

Artists often paint the different seasonal activities people engage in and the way the world looks as changes take place. The weather for each of the four seasons is different. Farmers plant crops and gardens in the spring and harvest their crops in the fall, just like "The Harvesters" by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. To begin, children will observe…

What excites the author the most is finding something new and turning it into a lesson her students will enjoy and learn from. Lately, she has been most inspired by the work she finds on one website. The lesson began with a brief PowerPoint based on an artist's website. This particular artist--Jennifer Schmitt--does reduction prints using several…

Since Pen Argyl High School in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania was in the process of redeveloping its mascot, the Green Knight, the author decided to implement a studio project based on armor. In groups of three, students would research an assigned type of historical armor, replicate it in cardboard, and fit it to a group member. The lesson had heavy…

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…

In science class, fourth graders investigate the structure of plants and leaves from trees and how the process of photosynthesis turns sunlight into sugar proteins. In this article, the author fuses art and science for a creative and successful clay slab project in her elementary art classroom. (Contains 1 online resource.)

The author personally started making narrative collaged necklaces about 10 years ago, after being inspired by an artist friend. She would take mini images from magazines and collage them together onto laminate tile samples from a hardware store. She then adds colorful brads and stickers, and then paint and oil pastel over them, finally sealing…

A strictly enforced dress code in an all-girls high school tends to create in students the desire to express their individuality. During the transition from childhood into adulthood, when adolescents struggle to establish an identity, they often define themselves through their appearance. When they are required to wear a uniform,…

Presidential campaigns bring out the expression of strong political sentiments in the jewelry and pins that people wear to declare their allegiances. Images, flags, symbols, and words are all elements that are incorporated into designs that make decisive visual statements. In this article, the author's high-school metals class students design a…