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Penciling in Creativity: Colored Pencil Mural
Upon first glance, Chromadaynamics, a mural at the University of Kentucky’s Gatton College of Business and Economics, looks like an abstract sunset, shifting from reds, oranges, and yellows to hues of...
View ArticleThe Problem With The Word “Pencil”
It just happened one day. I wish I could say that I thought of it, but I didn’t. Yet it happened anyway—and it was wondrous. Pencils. I abhor the word. For, upon its utterance, children dive for the...
View ArticleTake an Art Field Trip without Leaving School
The school year is about to begin. What better way to get new students acquainted with your campus or to help returning students see their school in a fresh, new light than to take a walking tour of...
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Pyrometric Cones 101
By: Eric Orr, MFA Ceramics, Sax Art Consultant Before the advent of pyrometers and thermocouples, pyrometric cones, composed of measureable, predictable types of clay, determined the temperature inside...
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6 Essential Tips for Teaching Clay from a Cart
This article is compliments of The Art of Education. Teaching art from a cart presents many unique challenges. Limited space, the lack of sinks, the bumpy cart, and other issues complicate nearly every...
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Student Artist Spotlight: Alberto Gomez
We’re dreaming of lazy summer days in the European countryside, thanks to student artist Alberto Gomez’ latest piece, Mi Casa. Alberto created this piece when he was an 8th grader at Union Ridge School...
View ArticleTransitional Drawings: Art Lesson Plan
Watercolor is a wonderful way to depict the beauty of nature. In fact, it was the medium of choice of one of the world’s most celebrated artist-naturalists, John James Audubon. Born in Haiti (then...
View ArticleCalling It Quits: When to Pull the Plug on an Art Project
Experienced artists know that not all projects work out. Maybe the concept was ill-conceived, the technique was inappropriate or too advanced, the materials were all wrong, or the artist’s heart was...
View ArticleA Chuck Close-Inspired Self-Portrait: Art Lesson Plan
Create a super-sized selfie! Contemporary artist Chuck Close is one of the most celebrated portrait artists of our time. Close quickly mastered his study of photo-realistic painted portraiture, and,...
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Acrylic Mediums 101
We love acrylic paints for their versatility—acrylic can be applied to look like oil, watercolor, or yes, acrylic—and the way they layer. We appreciate how acrylics can be thinned without spirits and...
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Tried & True Tips – October 2016
By now we are all quite busy with lesson plans, clubs, NJAHS and NAHS on our plates, but there is always time to learn something new. Here are some great tips and ideas about paper and collage and...
View Article5 Ways to Nurture Gifted Art Students
Every now and then we receive a student with exceptional artistic ability; a student whose talent and vision goes above and beyond that of the rest of the class. While teaching an advanced version of...
View ArticleFaçade Bud Vase: Art Lesson Plan
Let’s take a spin back in time, say to somewhere around 2000 BC, when the first potter’s wheels arrived in Greece. They’d been using them in Egypt for years, but that’s another story. The potter’s...
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10 Things You Need to Know Your First Year Teaching Elementary Art
This article is compliments of The Art of Education. If this is your first year of teaching at the elementary level, you might’ve been inundated with pee pants horror stories and the fear that you’ll...
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Discover the Power to Create Positive Change Through Art
As any teacher will tell you, students learn better when they are actively engaged, drawing personal relevance and meaning from their subject matter. Art teachers spend a lot of time on technique. What...
View ArticleCorobuff® Designer Necklaces: Art Lesson Plan
The word “paper” derives from the ancient Greek word for the papyrus plant, “papyros”. Papyrus was indeed one of the first materials used for writing and art, along with parchment and palm leaves, but...
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10 Things You Need to Know Your First Year Teaching Middle School Art
This article is compliments of The Art of Education. My mom always says it takes a special person to teach middle schoolers. (She taught middle school, so I’m not sure what she was getting at, but I...
View ArticleDogs of the Renaissance: Art Lesson Plan
The most domesticated of the animal species at the time of the Renaissance, dogs became the obvious subjects of the Renaissance artists, whose practice included sketching their natural surroundings. At...
View ArticleAbstract Art Revisited: Art Lesson Plan
Launching in the 1850’s and lasting more than 100 years, the modern art movement was an attempt by artists of all mediums, including painters, sculptors, writers, and others, to recreate a subject...
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Student Artist Spotlight: Norman Carroll
A third grader at Willard Elementary in River Forest, IL, Norman Carroll created Color Square using cray pas on watercolor paper, bleeding primary colors to create secondary colors. The result is a...
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