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…

This resource describes how one art classroom used "everyday labor" as a topic to connect artmaking to community workplaces. The work of Theaster Gates, Faith Ringgold, Jacob Lawrence, Jeremy Deller, and Adrian Piper are suggested to stimulate class dialogue about work, labor, and jobs. The author invited members of their farming…

In this article, the author describes a choice-based art unit she designed for her 7th-grade students, discussing how choice impacted student motivation and how this relates to playful exploration, meaning making, and sharing. With the implementation of a personally meaningful found-object unit, students' motivation increased because of the…

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…

Visual literacy and the ability to think creatively are critical skills requisite to full participation and communication in the twenty-first century. Learning experiences that integrate studio-based inquiry and other academic concepts can develop discipline skills as well as communication skills of deciphering visual cues and de/re-constructing…

A simulated physical model of volcanic processes using a glass art studio greatly enhanced enthusiasm and learning among urban, middle- to high-school aged, largely underrepresented minority students in Newark, New Jersey. The collaboration of a geoscience department with a glass art studio to create a science, technology, engineering, arts, and…

As a middle school art teacher, the author has learned that it is difficult to get to know students in just one quarter. At her school, each student in grades six through eight takes one quarter of art every year. This means she has roughly nine weeks to teach them content, proper use of tools and media, and art history. The author describes a…

Wanted: Clay project that will include the basics of well-crafted construction, a variety of decorative surface treatments, wide-ranging creative possibilities, a high level of success for students, a connection to historical beginnings, and result in a functional product. All of these attributes exist in a project that the author calls "Character…

Through the generosity of a Lowes Toolbox for Education Grant and a grant from the Bill Graham Foundation, an interdisciplinary mosaic mural was created and installed at Riverview Middle School in Bay Point, California. The actual mural, which featured a theme of nurturing students through music, art, sports, science, and math, took about three…

In this article, the author describes how her students made pendant necklaces. This project is simple to make but sophisticated in appearance.

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…

Once, in the author's continual quest for unique and varied art projects, she was inspired by a colorful Kleenex[R] box which was covered with faces in a variety of sizes, ages, shapes and colors. What a fun idea to have her class create their own portraits using only construction paper, glue and one's fingers. As she shared an examplar rip-art…

Making paper can be good for the planet, as well as an adventure for one's students. The costs of the activity of making the pulp from recycled paper are low and it is very eco-friendly. To begin, the author showed her middle-school students several examples of handmade paper in which outdoor scenes had been developed using an additive technique.…

Sepia tones range from pale neutral cream, tan, and amber all the way to deep chocolate brown; some even have dark green undertones. Sepia tones are used primarily by photographers. Photographers opt to print their photos in sepia because of the warmer, almost old-fashioned look it has. Art is considered "anthropomorphic" when an object or an…

This article presents a pilot interdisciplinary project for middle-school students including visual literacy, studio art, English-language literacy, geology and the study of indigenous groups. The location of the pilot was in the upper Midwest, along the Mississippi river bluffs of St. Paul, Minnesota. English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) students…