Students will learn about the history of self-portraits throughout time and the use of various media and techniques to create them. Students will be creating their own cardboard relief self-portrait while learning about facial proportion and illustrating from observation.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students will learn about the history of portraits throughout time and the use of various media and techniques such as fiber arts to create them. Students will be creating their own yarn portraits while learning about the history of fiber arts, portraits throughout time, and illustrating from observation.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students will research Renaissance art and its historical characteristics. Students will combine anachronism and Renaissance technique, to recreate a painting. The student will demonstrate technical skill and independent thinking in the use of media, techniques, and processes to achieve desired intentions in the creation of their final product.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Looking at the history of drawing by analyzing the procedures used by famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, students will see the importance of gesture drawing skills. Through this lesson, gesture drawing skills are developed through observation of the movement of different subject matter: people and fish. Students will create their own personal work of art using observational, gesture drawings of fish and composition techniques.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
In this lesson students will develop a story arc through a sequence of panels that contains a beginning, middle, and end. Each panel will be illustrated in a style inspired by graphic novel illustrations. In this lesson, students are learning to tell a visual story based on a personal skill or achievement.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
This is an introduction to foundational drawing and observational skills, through a series of practice drawings that culminate into a creative still life project. The still life projects focus on foundational observational drawing skills, basic composition, and allow opportunities for student collaboration.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
While being introduced to a variety of poets, students will be able to find personal connections with the works. These personal connections will be developed into narrative illustrations of their own life.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students will use the process of printmaking to create personal works of art. Students will investigate the history and processes of printmaking. Exploring traditional approaches to printmaking, students will create innovative products.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
In this lesson students will animate a ball bouncing into the "frame," squashing against the floor and stretching as it bounces up. This lesson focuses on the first principle of animation called squash and stretch. The lesson also explores exaggeration and timing.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Smarthistory is a free resource developed for art and art history instructors full of academic essays and videos. This lesson guides students through synthesizing materials in Smarthistory to create short video presentations on artist techniques, art movements, artists, and artist statements. The products can become a classroom video library resource for students by students that builds over time.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Distance Learning with Museums. Distance learning allows students to engage with museums and galleries through virtual instruction.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Multimedia Artist Statements. Middle School students have learned a variety of methods for communication and when given a choice of format for personal expression can demonstrate their knowledge effectively. Students can present artist statements in the form of writing, audio recording, video recording, presentation, and more, allowing students flexibility and choice in expressing what they learned and what they did in the creation of an art project.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Personalize Learning with Video Demonstrations of Art Techniques. Video clips of art techniques covered in class allow students to pause, repeat, and access content on demand as needed for review, remediation, make-up work, and/or enrichment.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Share Art Knowledge with Short Video Commercials. Student artists can use short video “commercials” to create and share messages about topics of interest related to course content, art advocacy, to highlight student artwork, or advertise student art exhibitions.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Engage with Global Arts and Cultural Connections using Interactive Digital Experiences. Interactive digital arts and cultural experiences allow students to examine and explore a variety of artistic and cultural perspectives on art, artmaking, and art exhibition. Virtual exhibitions from around the world can be explored on museum websites as virtual tours and virtual galleries.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
Students will learn about innovative light construction and three-dimensional properties while creating their own designs using limited paper materials. Students will be asked to work in teams to brainstorm and create a sculpture that implements light based on their chosen concept.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students will learn about installation art and artists such as Sandy Skoglund to inspire the creation of their own small-scale installation. Students will create designs based on their chosen concept and understanding of installation art in creating a small installation for their bookshelf (book nook).
Material Type: Activity/Lab
In this unit, students will depict favorite places based on their individual experiences. They will select and arrange their materials based on color, texture, shape and luminosity. The teacher will demonstrate techniques to join, cut and manipulate materials and support students as they execute their ideas. Students will learn about Mickalene Thomas’ embellished collages of interior spaces inside the home and places outdoors like gardens as inspiration for their art. Students will have opportunities to share their art and provide feedback for one another.
Material Type: Activity/Lab
Students will create a digital image depicting a piece of architecture made entirely of edible materials. The class will analyze and discuss architecture throughout history, including local Virginia architecture, as well as the mimetic architecture, such as the California Crazy architecture of the 1950s. Each student will create a proposal for their building prior to designing. Students will combine digital collage and retouching skills to create implied texture, distance/perspective, and make a realistic illusion.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
In June 2022, the Virginia Department of Education fine arts program hosted an arts and culture Institute for Virginia fine arts educators to collaborate with and learn from the Chickahominy Indian Tribe in Providence Forge, Virginia. This resource list was used by the educator team to build background knowledge, and educators and tribal citizens contributed additional resources and suggested classroom activities. This resource page is a short collection of resources that can be used by fine arts educators to respectfully include arts and culture of indigenous people of Virginia in fine arts classroom instruction.
Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy
