A powerful thing happens when one object is placed next to another: A relationship is suggested and a visual dialogue of sorts is created. Sculptors and architects are especially sensitive to the fact that harmonious relationships between elements can sometimes be more interesting than the elements themselves. Two-dimensional visual interaction…

Memento. Memoir. Memorable. Memory. Memorial. Commemorate. In Memoriam. These words may remind a person of stone monuments, or larger-than-life heroes and loved ones far distanced by space and time. The act of remembering, though, also belongs in the world of the everyday and the ordinary, and has a valuable place in an art classroom. In this…

Mural painting provides an excellent opportunity for students to participate in a collaborative project. To many teachers, class mural projects seem intimidating because of organizational and logistical challenges. Many of these challenges can be mitigated, however, if there is plenty of discussion beforehand to organize ideas, get input from…

In this article, the author describes how her intermediate art class used silhouettes expressively and interpreted ancient and contemporary silhouettes in a personal way. The students analyze relationships of works of art to one another in terms of history, aesthetics, and culture, justifying conclusions made in the analysis, and using such…

The author of this article is continually trying to come up with interesting ways for beginning art students to put color theory into practice. This article describes a project that integrates new learning about color schemes with previously learned concepts such as observational contour drawing and abstraction and converting two-dimensional shape…