Based on the learning outcomes, values, skills/proficiency and job safety for grades 6, 7 and 8 from the 2017 Visual Arts Course Curriculum (MEB, 2017), outcomes related to three-dimensional work have been associated with care, love, responsibility and inquiry and activities "My Money", "Abstract Sculpture" and "Talking…

In this article, the author shares a lesson taught to a sixth-grade art class. Using contemporary art, the students were encouraged to observe the art and have focused conversations about the work. When these discussions are integrated into the daily work of artmaking, they help students understand what it is they are learning. The author's goal…

Sculpting representations of human organs out of modeling clay is an acknowledged method of teaching anatomical structures. Because of its potential to provide detailed spatial information, stereoscopic imagery can be understood to function as a suitable template for such sculpting tasks. Currently, it is unknown whether the advantages of…

School bullying is a complicated aspect of violence. It can be difficult for teachers to identify bullying and hard for students to report. This can include behaviors that are "offensive, abusive, malicious, insulting, and/or intimidating" (Quigg, 2011, p. 1). Some students struggle with bullying in the classroom and in the general…

Garden gnomes: magical or tacky? Well, art is in the eye of the beholder, and for the author's advanced seventh-grade art class, garden gnomes are magical. Gnomes have a very long history, dating back to medieval times. A fairytale describes them as brownie-like creatures that are nocturnal helpers. In this article, the author describes how her…

The author was fortunate enough to teach in the children's program at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Anderson Ranch is a magical place where artists young and old come to expand their creative spirits. The children's art program spans a wide range of media for children aged six through seventeen. There are classes to explore…

This article presents two lessons. The first one is "Carved in Stone: The Preamble to the Constitution" by Steven S. Lapham. In 1937, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) commissioned artist Lenore Thomas to create some sculptures for the planned community of Greenbelt, Maryland. Part of her work consisted of bas-relief friezes on the…

In this article, the author describes how her students constructed a three-dimensional sculpture of a dragon using plaster wrap and other materials. The dragons were formed from modest means--using only a toilet-paper tube, newsprint, tape and wire.

A ballerina, a gladiator, a camper, a baseball player, a surfer, and a shopper; these are just a few of the amazing monkeys that the author's seventh graders created from papier-mache. This project provided an opportunity for students to express themselves through the creation of sculptural characters based on their own interests, hobbies, and…

In this article, the author describes a project which came about from listening to some of her students talk about the awful food they had at lunch. Each one of them was engaged and eager to talk about his or her experience. In this project, students recreate their experiences through sculpture. (Contains 1 online resource.)

In this article, the author describes an art project inspired by the wearable sculpture art created by artist Marjorie Schick. Students used wallpaper paste and newspapers to create papier-mache for a mountain hat, a cherry-pie mask/hat, a "dress" shoe and a Cubistic mask. Cardboard was used in many of these things, in addition to being used as…

In this article, the author discusses how she combines science lesson with a hands-on art project. She used the wonderfully creative suns shown on the Sunday edition of "The CBS Morning Show" to give the students fodder for thought. She describes how to create an assemblage. An assemblage is like a collage, but it moves past the two-dimensional…

In the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City there is a woodcarving called a "Yipwon". It is from the remote north-east region of Papua New Guinea and was created by the Yiman people of the Korewori River Region. The Yipwon carvings look like a human skeleton in profile, showing evidence of ribs, heart, and head. The Yipwon…

For the past twenty years, a major project for the author's eighth-grade art classes has been a group diorama with plaster figures. The group has to include two to four people participating in a sport or an occupation while showing some kind of action and interaction. Not too long ago, a couple of girls asked to depict the signing of the…

With all the noise in the world, the flotsam and jetsam sensory input from the media, from friends, from family, from life, it is an arduous task to have students slow things down and focus on the simple, raw elements of their world. Specifically related to art class, the challenge is how to help students digest the work of Minimalist artists. In…