Articles

Article

Putting It Together

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Many schools regularly stage musicals. Their staging invites creative art lessons that can complement musicals’ themes and songs. For several years, I coordinated art lessons and curriculum init ...

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Article

Editor’s Letter: Joy

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Watching Marie Kondo’s Netflix series, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, has me thinking about joy, but as it applies to art. Her method, introduced in her first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidy ...

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Article

Boxed Mythology

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

I collaborated with my student Sarah Oschmann, who wrote most of this article. This lesson, inspired by artist Joseph Cornell, is rooted in the theme of mythology. Students were required to dive deep ...

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Article

#YOURTURN: A Documentary Project

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

One of the first things we learn as children is how to take a turn. This past school year, I launched a collaborative project called #YOURTURN. This is a photo-based project about interaction, engagem ...

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Article

Don't Judge a Box by Its Cover

Friday, August 2, 2019

For this lesson, students designed the outside of a box to represent how they are perceived by others, and the inside to represent how they know themselves to be. They were encouraged to work symbolic ...

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Article

Reflections on the Future

Friday, August 2, 2019

How do our thoughts about the past or the future shape our present lives? How can our hopes and dreams cause us to reach toward our best selves? These were the questions I asked myself in designing th ...

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Article

Why Art Really Matters to Me

Friday, August 2, 2019

To kick off Youth Art Month last March, NAEA President Kim Definbaugh encouraged members to post photos and stories of Why Art Matters with the tag #VisualArtsEdMatters. I thought about it and realize ...

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Article

Robot Personifications

Friday, August 2, 2019 | SchoolArts magazine

Have you ever wondered if we are learning more from the students we teach than they are learning from us? If we take the time to observe our students, we can see that they are filled with their own id ...

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Article

Editor’s Letter: Testimony

Friday, August 2, 2019 | SchoolArts magazine

When I taught preservice classes at the University of North Texas, I required my students to each write and present a mission statement, a kind of testimony to their philosophy of art and art teaching ...

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Article

Editor's Letter: Empowerment

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

What’s your art teacher superpower? Do you have eyes in the back of your head (or have you convinced your students you do)? Do you present art problems that empower your students’ confiden ...

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Article

Playing Around with Paper

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Common ideas with a fresh twist are always fun for students and teachers alike. One of our curriculum points is to create an artwork using wet-onwet painting. While this is fun and interesting to do, ...

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Article

The Shape of Things

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Have you woken up in the middle of the night, fretting over what you will teach on that last day of school? I am frequently awake from 2:00 to 5:00 a.m. with my restless, anxious mind performing its m ...

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Article

Leaving Their Marks

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

The end of my art students’ four years is fast approaching and discussion turns to a reflection of their experiences in the building. I tell them, “This has been your building for several ...

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Article

Have You Seen This Monster?

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Throughout time and across cultures, humans have created stories about monsters and mythical creatures to help them cope with things they fear or can’t explain. This lesson focuses on the natura ...

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Article

Editor's Letter: Sustainability

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 | Nancy Walkup

I didn’t realize how frugal my grandmother was until I was well into adulthood. She made most of her own clothes and then used the scraps to make us Raggedy Ann dolls, stick horses, other soft t ...

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Article

Soda Birds

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 | Rita Roberts

If you are like me, you’re always in search of art ideas to inspire creativity within your classroom—ideas that will allow your students to experience something new, projects that can be m ...

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