This project came at the perfect time, after my Drawing Intensive students had completed a large-scale realistic drawing assignment. I wanted to give them the freedom to experiment in their mark-making, and this challenge checked all the boxes. The physicality of mark-making became a performance, requiring students to use their entire bodies to prevent their charcoal-taped drawing stick from making an unwanted mark.
Whether we look at art through the lens of an art educator or an artist, the landscape of art is constantly evolving. In recent years, there has been a shift in how artists tackle ideas, curiosities, issues, and studio challenges—a direction driven by authenticity, honesty, being heard, and the freedom to experiment.
The way in which we respond as active participants is also changing. Every day, we discover new ways of creating, learn about varied artistic processes, and come to new realizations about how art and artists evolve. Contemporary art is about living in the present moment and documenting it through art.
When I first started teaching in 2001, the choices I made about which artists to use in the secondary curriculum were based on genres and movements, for example, Vincent van Gogh, Romare Bearden, Pablo Picasso, Louise Bourgeois, and Andy Warhol, to name a few. This became the norm in my art room, as it did for many beginning art teachers.
In 2008, I began to explore contemporary art to find ways that it could help me develop an effective and relevant curriculum that would continue to engage my students. Art is a powerful medium that provides us the space to think, respond, and communicate our ideas, feelings, and intentions. Through active participation and openness in the art-making process, a conversation can begin.
Art students discover that their perspectives on art and life, as well as how they respond to them, continue to change year by year, course by course. For you, the art educator, curricular ideas and themes emerge as you speak with colleagues, participate in virtual studio visits, and attend your state’s art conference.
I am fortunate to have seen my Drawing Intensive students grow as artists throughout their high-school careers. They have reached the point where experimentation, embracing mistakes, and accepting challenges are all part of their ongoing artistic development. They accept the familiar and are gradually introduced to how artists continue to push their creative boundaries to discover those aha moments or encounter those wonderful surprises that pique their curiosity enough to ask, “What if?”
This project came at the perfect time, after my Drawing Intensive students had completed a large-scale realistic drawing assignment. I wanted to give them the freedom to experiment in their mark-making, and this challenge checked all the boxes.
The physicality of mark-marking became a performance, requiring students to use their entire bodies to prevent their charcoal-taped drawing stick from making an unwanted mark.
In the hallway, I demonstrated how to hold the drawing apparatus and apply the compressed charcoal to the drawing surface. I asked students to use their own reference photos for their artwork.
Students could either place a foot on the corner of their drawing board to prevent it from sliding on the floor, or they could simply work with the drawing board if it moved under too much pressure.
I walked students through the process of loosely laying out their compositions, then they added value to their drawings. Dark areas were created by continuously adding more marks to a specific area of the drawing. Students were asked to refrain from pressing too hard to avoid breaking the charcoal.
After initially struggling to control their drawing apparatus, they caught on after a few minutes and adjusted to make this challenging experience a bit more enjoyable by changing their stance or leaning into their drawings. The outcome varied, but the results were captivating.
After the drawings were completed, students evaluated them through writing and conversation. Students responded to a series of questions individually before sharing with a fellow classmate to receive feedback. Writing is an excellent way for students to get their ideas on paper versus speaking off-the-cuff. Being open to feedback allows students to reflect and grow.
Frank Juárez is the head of the art department at Sheboygan North High School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. FJuarez@sasd.net
Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
Art teachers inspire bold creative expression while incorporating contemporary art into their lessons. Students discover the large-scale paintings of Sean Scully and create multi-panel patterned compositions, investigate the landscape art of Dahlia Elsayed and assemble collaborative and individual collages, embrace mark-making as a whole-body exercise while using charcoal-taped drawing sticks, and more.
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