Curated OER
Ceramic shoes - wild and wacky
Students explore the history of shoes and shoes from various cultures. They create a shoe using slab and coil techniques. They become familiar with basic additive and subtractive sculpting methods while adding imaginative features to...
Curated OER
Nature Abstractions - Georgia O'Keeffe
Students examine the work of Georgia O'Keeffe and forms of nature. Sketches are made of natural objects and then abstracted. Clay forms are then made using draped slab method and hand building techniques.
Curated OER
Oaxacan Animals
Learners explore the wood carving techniques and artistic capacity of the Zapotec Indians and create a whimsical creature based on the wood carvings. The creature is made from newspaper and designed using paint pens.
Curated OER
Abstract Partial Human Figure in Plaster
Students identify and critique the work of Barbara Hepworth and Constantin Brancusi by their works as motivation for creation of a plaster sculpture. They implement the subtractive sculpting method to concentrate on form and movement.
Curated OER
Expressing Emotions Through Art Lesson 4: Everybody Celebrates
Students examine how feelings of caring and working together can be expressed in works of art, and define the terms two-dimensional and three-dimensional. They design and create celebratory hats using three-dimensional paper techniques.
Curated OER
Isamu Noguchi/Stone Sculpture
Students examine the art and history of Japan and use it to help them conceptualize and create a work of art that reveals something about their own culture. They examine, interpret and analyze Noguchi's work and reveal information...
Curated OER
Clay Gargoyles and Grotesques
Grotesques or gargoyles are wonderful subjects for stories or art projects. Here is a simple "how to" for creating a lesson about sculpting clay gargoyles. Tip: Have learners research gargoyles throughout history.
Curated OER
A Sculptor's Model
Students investigate visual arts by researching art on the Internet. In this expressionism lesson plan, students identify several famous artworks on-line based on self expression and discuss the techniques. Students examine steel...
Curated OER
Rollie-Pollie - - Ceramic Art
Students are introduced to a variety of sculpting techniques: rolling, pinching and scoring. They practice utilizing additive and subtractive processes in making simple sculptural forms to depict bugs. Each student also interprets...
National Gallery of Canada
One Look Is Worth A Thousand Words
Facial expressions can communicate complex emotions. Examine expressions in several hyperrealistic works of art before beginning a project. Learners will create their own clay faces that show an emotion using either photos or their own...
National Gallery of Canada
The World Around Me
Have your learners use their surroundings as inspiration for an art project. Class members first examine and discuss art. They then choose an area and spend five days taking down observations in written and sketch form. These...
Curated OER
Graffitti
Here is a fun way to encourage a cooperative classroom, drawing skills, and creative expression. Each child draws a design or shape on his paper, then he rotates to the next child's paper where he adds to the previous design. When the...
Curated OER
Native American Storyteller Figure
Third graders explore cultures that use clay figures in the art of storytelling. They discover the importance of cultural history being passed through generations. They also form their own storyteller from a clay figure.
Curated OER
Bas-Relief Book Report
Students, after reading a variety of books, choose one book to analyze story events and summarizes them in one illustration for a book jacket cover. They gather information about bas-relief sculpture and use that technique to create a...
Curated OER
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Students build rock sculptures, In this hands-on art lesson, students pile rocks into unique formations to create rock sculptures.
Curated OER
Canvas Dinnerware
Take recycling to a new height. Learners use china or plastic dinnerware from thrift stores to create great works of art. They discuss great works of art, talk about techniques, and design their own piece.
Curated OER
Ceramic Handbuilding
Students are taught the three basic handbuilding techniques used in beginning pottery: pinch pot, coiling, and slab work. They complete 4 pieces of pottery. Students comprehend the basic pottery process from start to finish. They discuss...
Curated OER
the Richness of Rattles: a Lesson in Making And Decorating Clay Rattles
Students study the history behind clay rattles. They form and create a clay rattle using ceramic sculptural techniques and important composition and design elements.
Curated OER
Messages in Art Work
Observe images and discuss what messages they convey. In this critical thinking lesson plan, students determine whether works of art are trying to persuade their audience. They also consider the media and how they communicate messages to...
Curated OER
Wire Circus
Second graders examine the life and work of Alexander Calder. They create a wire sculpture on a cirucs theme of their choice. They work on these projects in groups. They utilize telephone wire, or any thin wire cut to manageable lengths.
Curated OER
3-D Logo Design - Cardboard Sculpture
High schoolers define, design, and create a 3-D logo using cardboard.
Curated OER
Ceramics - Mask making - Sculpture
Students design a mask using cultural examples for inspiration - changing the meaning - conveying a special message about the times in which we live.
Getting to Know
Shape and Form in Art
Introduce youngsters to the important role shape and form play in art with this extensive collection of activities and projects. From teaching first graders how to create mandalas to engaging third and fourth graders in the design of...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animal Farm: Allegory and the Art of Persuasion
Introduce your class members to allegory and propaganda with a series of activities designed to accompany a study of George Orwell's Animal Farm. Readers examine the text as an allegory, consider the parallels to collective farms and the...