Editor's Letter: Student Voice and Choice
Frank Juárez, SchoolArts editor-in-chief, discusses the importance of empowering students to express themselves and make personal choices in the art room.
1 September 2025
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Interdisciplinary Connections
The Connections Issue, September 2025
While teaching students about new artists, processes, and techniques, art teachers also prioritize building relationships and strong foundations. Young students transform the hallway bulletin board into a giant sheet music mural promoting kindness, elementary students develop fantastical illustrations, middle-school students embrace imperfections while making stained glass jewelry, high-school students work with limited materials to create balanced compositions, and more.
Choice-Based
The Student Voice and Choice Issue, October 2025
Art teachers foster student voice and choice, guiding them to be thoughtful artists and critical thinkers. Young students engage in a three-part insect-drawing unit that blends science and imagination. Elementary students design 3D miniature studios inspired by artist research. Middle-schoolers use mapping to craft conceptual self-portraits reflecting identity. High-schoolers study Naum Gabo’s Constructivist sculptures, then build original works tied to personal interests.
Classroom Practice
The Innovation Issue, Summer 2025
Art teachers share new and exciting art-making experiences in and outside the art room. Young students collaborate to paint a hanging cardboard butterfly installation, elementary students use everyday objects to create illuminating bookshelf dioramas, middle-school students use 3D-scanning technology to print lifelike portraits, high-school students address contemporary issues while creating in an outdoor classroom, and more.
Classroom Practice
The Process Issue, May 2025
Art teachers use a process-based approach to engage students in art-making. Young students apply color-mixing to create vibrant watercolor paintings, elementary students are introduced to the unique process of paper quilling, middle-school students use critical thinking and ideation skills while drawing meaningful self-portraits, high-school students use fused glass techniques to create functional works of art, and more.
Contemporary Art
The Contemporary Art Issue, April 2025
This issue focuses on various interpretations of contemporary art and what art means for students today. Young students connect to the natural world and print with leaves, elementary students combine elements from historical and contemporary artworks to create a new work of art, middle-school students explore the large-scale sculptures of Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, high-school students channel contemporary themes into a self-portrait photo composite, and more.
Advocacy
The Advocacy Issue, March 2025
This issue introduces various ways to address advocacy through different lenses, ranging from cultural perspectives to embracing mistakes and self-expression. Young students use creative thinking skills to connect with themselves and the world around them, elementary students turn mistakes into works of art, middle-school students make clay puzzle pieces with symbolic objects representing their interests, high-school students create detailed fabric portraits, and more.
Collaboration
The Collaboration Issue, January/February 2025
This issue highlights several ways in which art teachers have integrated collaboration into their teaching practice, such as providing students with opportunities to problem-solve and work together throughout the year, learning about the Sustainable Development Goals and creating a tile installation symbolizing them, inviting a local florist to teach an art lesson, collaborating with an artist to create an outdoor installation, and more.
Highlights
Innovative Insects
Young students participate in a three-part insect-drawing unit that combines science, observational drawing, morphing, and creativity.
1 September 2025
The (mini) Artist's Studio
Elementary students each select an artist to research and construct 3D miniature art studios based on their findings.
1 September 2025
Fingerprint Portraits
Middle-school students use writing, drawing, and mapping to create conceptual self-portraits that express their identities.
1 September 2025
Constructivism in the Art Room
High-school students investigate the metal sculptures of Constructivist Naum Gabo and create their own sculptures based on personal interests.
1 September 2025
Contemporary Art in Context: Virginia Mahoney
Mixed-media visual artist Virginia Mahoney creates sculptures that contain personal narratives in the form of written and stitched words.
1 September 2025Media Arts
Peace Without Limits
Middle-school students make connections between the environment, artificial intelligence, and watercolor painting while participating in an art contest.
Media Arts, 1 August 2025
AI-Generated Laughs
High-school students explore the emerging world of artificial intelligence while experimenting with two compositions based on visual puns.
Media Arts, 1 June 2025
Woven Optical Illusions
Middle-school students take ownership over their learning while gaining familiarity with digital tools and creating a woven optical illusion.
Media Arts, 1 June 2025
Editor's Letter: Innovation
Frank Juárez, SchoolArts editor-in-chief, reflects on the importance of an innovative art curriculum that fosters curiosity and creative risk-taking.
Media Arts, 1 June 2025
Portraits in Three Dimensions
Middle-school students use 3D-scanning technology and modeling software to capture and print lifelike portraits.
Media Arts, 1 June 2025
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