Curated OER
An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts
Students investigate how artists create a story that provides a message or provokes emotions in a single image. The ways in which the composition of a painting contributes to telling the story or conveying the message is examined in this...
Curated OER
Follow the Leader: Line in the Visual Arts
Students explore line in painting and drawing and examine how it is defined in the visual arts. Recognizing line in the composition of a number of art works and how it affects these works of art is the focus of this lesson.
Curated OER
Repeat After Me: Repetition in the Visual Arts
High schoolers explore one of the techniques artists often use to highlight important elements within a painting's composition and to move a viewer's eye around the canvass from highpoint to highpoint.
Brigham Young University
Understanding Design, Composition, and Color
The set for a play combines design elements (style, line, shape, mass, measure, position, color, and texture) and principles of composition (unity, harmony, contrast, variation, balance, proportion, and emphasis) to create a particular...
Curated OER
An Introduction to the Relationship Between Composition and Content in the Visual Arts
Young scholars identify different kinds of narratives used in a number of art works, discuss artist's use of compositional elements to further the story and/or convey a message within a work of art, and explain relationship between...
Memorial Art Gallery
Learning to Look, Looking to Learn - Peeling Onions
Lilly Martin Spencer's "Peeling Onions" is the subject of a series of exercises that model for learners how to use the elements of art to read a painting. A series of worksheets focus viewers' attention on how Spencer uses color and...
Curated OER
Shaping the View: Composition Basics
Students are introduced to the concept of composition in visual art. They examine various compositional structures and practice identifying the focus of various pieces of art.
National Gallery of Canada
Urban Panorama
How can a photographer use images to represent a topic? Over the course of three days, learners discuss various photographs and practice their picture-taking skills with an outdoor, panoramic photography session. They use the images to...
National Gallery of Canada
Surprising Sun Prints
Here comes the sun! Composition, shapes, and the properties of light are the focus of this bright lesson. Class members examine art and then create sun prints using photosensitive paper and various objects of different shapes and sizes....
Curated OER
In Depth with the Full Spectrum
High schoolers explore the basic color wheel and the ways that artists use color to guide the viewer's attention through a painting's composition. A creation of a sense of depth in a two dimensional space and the effect of color on mood...
National Gallery of Canada
Social Realism
Examine social strife in art. Class members first observe some pieces, and then find an image to inspire their own art. They outline the picture, analyze the composition, make alterations, and color their work.
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Elements of Music—How do Composers Plan?
The introduction to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and the finale of his Symphony No. 4 provide young musicians with an opportunity to investigate the music elements composers employ to develop the themes they want to create. They compare the...
Concordia University Chicago
The Pietá by Michelangelo Buonarroti
Why is arts education so important? It builds critical thinking, analysis and creative problem-solving skills. Learners review the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti, and then analyze his piece, The Pieta. After that, they'll sculpt a human...
Curated OER
Shaping the View: Composition Basics
High schoolers view images from the Metropolitan Museum of Art web site, and list the objects and figures in the image. They discuss the way their eyes move around the canvas and take note of where their eyes fall, follow and finish....
Curated OER
Animal Self-portrait Mosaics: A Visual Arts Elective
Out-lined here is a two-week procedure that has the class creating ceramic animal tiles that are metaphorical representations of their own personalities. They discuss animal images found throughout history, what they mean, metaphor, and...
Curated OER
Pictures at an Exhibition
Students discuss how the musical composition was created. They listen to "Pictures at an Exhibition." Students discuss how the Promenade in the beginning of the opus is based on Mussorgsky walking through the exhibit of paintings....
Johnny Mercer Foundation
Project-Based Songwriting
Project-based learning in a music theory class? Take note. Young songwriters compose, record, copyright, and promote their original songs. They even design their own CD cover.
Curated OER
Composition Compositions
Students explore composition and symmetry to create their own digital media piece. In this design composition lesson, students visit the online websites and examples of asymmetrical compositions and symmetry. Students sketch a...
Curated OER
Shaping the View: Symmetry and Balance
Students explore the symmetry and balance in the composition of a variety of art works and note how the viewer's eye is guided to the important components of the image. How these elements affect the tone of the painting and communicate...
Film Foundation
The Day The Earth Stood Still: Film Language And Elements Of Style
In this, the third in a series of four resources that use Robert Wise's 1951 version of The Day The Earth Stood Still as the core text, young film makers examine the language of film including shot composition, camera angle, lighting,...
National Gallery of Canada
Shadow Chasers!
Experiment with light and shadow with a photography lesson. Learners first view several artistic photographs. They then play with different levels of light and various objects, eventually putting together compositions and taking pictures...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: A Bird's Tale
Who wouldn't love to get a letter from a blue bird? Elementary art enthusiasts analyze the social and historical context of Ason Yellowhair's Navajo piece, Bird and Cornstalk Rug. They examine the construction and images on the rug...
Concordia University Chicago
Peace and Plenty by George Inness
Learners will need to discuss the Civil War to truly understand the painting Peace and Plenty by George Inness. They'll analyze the painting in terms of context, style, and technique. Then, they'll experiment with light and composition...
Columbus City Schools
What is Up Th-air? — Atmosphere
Air, air, everywhere, but what's in it, and what makes Earth's air so unique and special? Journey through the layers above us to uncover our atmosphere's composition and how it works to make life possible below. Pupils conduct research...