Describes an art project for sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students, in which plastic drinking straws serve as a weaving loom. Discusses the process. (CMK)

Discusses the importance of designing settings for children that encourage hands-on creativity through play. Suggests the designs are art forms requiring a participatory art teaching style. Describes the technique and provides proven design ideas. (CMK)

Provides information on John Singer Sargent, a portrait artist known for his artwork of rich and famous people. Describes an art activity for fourth-grade students that incorporates the techniques of Sargent into full-bodied student self-portraits. Enables students to consider career aspirations. (CMK)

Presents an art project, used in a culturally diverse curriculum, in which second grade students create Chinese New Year dragons. Describes the process of creating the dragons, from the two-week construction of the head to the accordion-folded bodies. (CMK)

Explains that individualized still-life arrangements steer students away from duplicating cultural forms as subject matter and replaces them with the process of training the eye to observe line, space, proportion, texture, and color in changing settings. Describes how students can create their own still-life arrangements. (CMK)

Presents two children's literature-inspired art projects. The first project, for second grade students, uses the book "In the Tall, Tall Grass" and focuses on the art concept of depth. The second project, for third graders, uses the book "If the Dinosaurs Came Back" to teach color contrast and overlapping. (CMK)

Explains that creating paper-pulp bowls is designed to acquaint students with the beginning vocabulary and finger dexterity needed to sculpt clay. Describes the process of making paper-pulp bowls and identifies important vocabulary words. Provides directions for making paper bowl forms and lists the materials. (CMK)

Presents an art project where fifth-grade students painted murals of windows in the boys and girls school restrooms. States that they used a technique called "trompe l'oeil" that uses shadows and perspective to achieve realism that tricks the eye. (CMK)

Describes an art lesson for high school students in "Introduction to Art" that focuses on the style of Frank Stella. States that the students chose a theme, such as representational or abstract, and based their "Stella-esque" assemblage on that theme. (CMK)

Presents an art lesson for first-grade students where they painted portraits of their fathers (or the significant male in their lives) for Father's Day. Explains that the students secretly observed their fathers in order to enable them to create the portraits as a surprise. (CMK)

Discusses a fresco assignment taught during a workshop for an art history class where students created their own fresco paintings. Provides background information on the fresco technique and the materials that are used. Describes the process of creating the frescos and lists the needed materials. (CMK)

Describes an art activity that enables beginning art students to practice their skills and techniques using watercolor as a medium. States that the students use paint, paper, and an inexpensive stencil set of the alphabet. Explains that students create a symmetrical design that fills the sheet of paper. (CMK)

Presents a lesson where the students painted water scenes instead of creating traditional landscapes featuring houses, trees, and mountains. States that the students developed their composition and painting skills along with increasing their sense of beauty and imaginations. Discusses the process of creating the waterscapes in detail. (CMK)

Presents an art assignment for beginning painting students in which they paint a self-portrait in the style of the German expressionists and intimate the mood through colors. Explains that the students viewed color reproductions of work by German expressionists and aspects of art history related to the German expressionists. (CMK)

Presents a three-dimensional art project for middle-school students in which they create sculptures of plaster cloth and wire. The introduction explains that they learn about Alexander Calder, a master of using wire in art. Discusses how to make the sculptures. (CMK)