Exploring Optical Movement in Art

How do painters use and manipulate light in their artwork to give emphasis and establish mood and emotion? Pupils will analyze a few examples of landscape and portrait painting in order to explore the how light is used in art, and will...

Groups collaborate to create historical documentaries. In this American Civil Rights lesson, groups research primary and secondary sources about the events and people pertinent to the movement in the 1950s and 1960s. They then use...

Image field trips to museums that display over 1000 major works of western art. Imagine no airfare, no long lines, and only one admission fee. Imagine viewing at your convenience, with your own private docent providing information about...

Explore rhythm, patterns, color and texture in art and poetry. In this poetry lesson, middle schoolers perform a class symphony and note the elements they experience. Students work in small groups to create a visual art piece that...

Samurai warriors had a code that defined what an ideal warrior should be. Learners use a Venn diagram to compare the way the ideal warrior is portrayed in art and literature. They analyze a screen entitled The Battles at Ichi-no-tani and...

What would it be like to restore modern works of art? By acting as modern art conservators, learners assess the first-hand difficulties faced in restoration efforts. In addition, they create modern art pieces from random materials. Then,...

Students study the significance of flowers in art from two periods. In this Medieval and Renaissance art instructional activity, students research the presence and meaning of botanical illustrations in twelfth, thirtieth, and fourteenth...

Students explore basic shapes in art. In this sketching lesson, students discover that art is created from basic shapes. Students determine the basic shapes in a picture and recreate the image.

What do virtual reality and cave paintings have in common? Scholars ponder this question while examining a 360-degree-view video about 40,000 year old French cave paintings. Rich extension materials allow inquiry into deeper questions...

Learners investigate the use of cloth-based art forms intended to pass down traditions and history. They research types of quilts, quilt characteristics and then identify how Freedom Quilts were historically used in the US.