Category Archives: Lesson Plans
Screen Printing Workshop (For Adults)
In November 2008, I attended a workshop on screen printing at our local community college. As an art teacher, I was always looking for new and exciting projects for my students, and I thought this would be a lot of … Continue reading
Printmaking Demonstration by Mary Azarian
Mary Azarian–recipient of the 1999 Caldecott Medal for her artwork in the children’s book “Snowflake Bentley”–visited students at my school in March 2002 to demonstrate her woodcarving and printmaking techniques. She began her demonstration by showing the wood and the … Continue reading
Handmade Paper
Our basic materials for papermaking included a blender, two dishpans, two 8″ x 10″ stretcher frames covered with fine nylon screen, paper that we salvaged from various recycling bins around our school, sponges, towels, and newspapers. Before starting this unit, … Continue reading
Torn Paper Portraits
As a short-term project, students created torn paper self-portraits. A picture was taken of each student and it was abstracted in Photoshop using the cut-out filter. This filter breaks the image down into specific values and students chose the number … Continue reading
Light-Capturing Cut Paper Designs
Students practiced cutting and folding pre-printed motif designs before coming up with interesting designs of their own. They worked on medium-weight white drawing paper which they divided into at least five 2-inch boxes. They left a border around the outer … Continue reading
Goblins, Creatures & Character Sculptures
Every few years, I would have my students watch the movie Labyrinth and the documentary about the making of this fun fantasy movie that starred David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. A Jim Henson and George Lucas production in the mid 1980s, … Continue reading
Oldenburg-Inspired Sculptures
Students (middle school and later high school) were introduced to the monumental sculptural works of Claes Oldenburg. Excited by the prospect of “supersizing” an ordinary object, students brainstormed to come up with ideas. Once they’d made a decision on which object … Continue reading
Agam-Inspired “Kinetic” Art
Middle school students were introduced to “Agamographs”; the work of artist Yaacov Agam, Focusing on artwork which moves or appears to move, students were challenged to develop their own piece of “visually kinetic” artwork. Many students found it helpful to … Continue reading
Paper Pulp Painting
Denise Fleming, a children’s book author and illustrator, creates many of her illustrations by “painting” with colorful paper pulp. Her work was the inspiration for students who were eager to apply skills they’d learned in a previous unit on basic … Continue reading
Paper Making, Casting & Embossing
Paper Making: While papermaking “recipes” vary, we used 1-1/2 to 2 sheets of shredded 8.5 x 11 paper (added gradually) to 3-4 cups of water in a blender to produce one sheet of handmade paper. The paper and water were … Continue reading