Culture and art are two things that change with time and context. Learners compare and contrast two landscape prints from different time periods. They work through art terminology to help them describe what they see in each piece. The...

Fourth graders examine and demonstrate how to create a middle ground, background, and foreground on a picture or work of art. They identify middle ground, background, and foreground on Michael Sowa's works of art, then create their own...

Students become exposed to the art work of Keith Haring and create a piece of graffiti art. In this graffiti art lesson, students discover Keith Haring's work in a historical context, explore the usage of lines and symbols as a...

Students create book arts based on a visit to the Botanical Garden. They choose their own images to put into their book and answer discussion questions.

Students create their own landscape paintings. Students will learn various techniques to create an effective foreground, middleground, and background.

Students explore the element of "line." In this beginning art lesson, students listen to the book Harold and the Purple Crayon, then describe the types of lines Harold drew. Students identify straight lines,  jagged lines, curvy...

Students pick out the different techniques in photographs taken. In this photographs lesson plan, students critique patterns, shadows, reflections, and more in the photographs.

Third graders paint a landscape that demonstrates the illusion of space.  In this visual arts activity, 3rd graders paint a creek with reflections as the focus and include images showing foreground, middle ground, and...

Students explore Edward Curtis' photos of a Native American ritual and practice documenting their own religious rituals. In this photography analysis lesson plan, students analyze an Native American ritual in Curtis' photo. Students...

Portraying accurate light in a chalk drawing can be difficult. This useful PowerPoint provides fantastic guidelines to achieve good lighting perspective in a drawing. Three photo examples are provides on slides six, eight, and ten, to...

Young scholars write a personification poem and identify its use. They make a pattern worksheet and then use Photoshop Elements skills to illustrate their poem. Students use layer styles with the text to highlight the poetry.

Create a unique spin on reverse painting with oil pastels and acetate. The combination results in a beautiful and vibrant art piece. This is a great project to introduce your class to oil pastels.

What do Roger Chillingworth, Dr. Heidegger, and Ethan Brand have in common? They are all American literature poster boys for Romanticism, advertising the dangers of valuing reason over feeling and intuition. Introduce your class to...

Your scholars may have an idea of who Dick Clark is, but do they understand the role he has played in American history for over 50 years? Give learners some practice with media literacy as they read an article about Clark's life and fill...

Students discuss, analyze, and interpret "Portrait of a Dutch Family" by Fans Hals and then create subject specific projects for assessment. This cross-curricular lesson is well-suited for Language Arts or Visual Arts classrooms and...

Sixth graders create black and white pictures followed by a re-creation of the same picture using color with an emphasis on contrast, depth, and mood.

Students examine how paintings tell stories. They read biographies about artists, analyze paintings, research and write the art history of a painting, write a creative story based on the painting, and create a painting in the artist's...

Students explore 19th century American artwork.  In this cross curriculum New York history and art appreciation instructional activity, students view a reproduction of the painting "Situation of America, 1848," and identify visual...

Students explore marketing techniques. In this media awareness instructional activity, students watch instructor-selected advertising and identify the marketing techniques used in each of them. Students then create advertisements for...

A brief introduction to Penelope Barker sets the stage for a discussion about political cartoons and the persuasive technique used to create them. A graphic organizer aids scholars in the analysis of a piece of work using a 2-point...

Students explore foreground and background colors. In this visual art lesson plan, students create an underwater collage from varying colors and textures of paper showcasing the color transition between background and foreground colors.

Learners research information about animal habitats and plant growth in tropical environments. They create unique art with foregrounds and backgrounds that camouflage tropical creatures and search for hidden animals in peer artwork.

Students create oil pastel landscape paintings in this middle-level Art activity on perspective, horizons, foreground, background, and middle ground. The activity includes resource links to books on teaching art and perspective.

Students examine images from newspapers and create their own photos to tell a story. In this photojournalism lesson, students analyze a photograph using the elements and principles of art then create a photographic image that tells...