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.

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.

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.

The Storytelling Issue, December 2024

Art teachers provide a variety of lessons for students to communicate their stories and ideas. Young students design their own personalized letters; elementary students create a mural based on food systems after learning about where their food comes from; middle-school students create nine-panel digital collages with symbols representing their likes and interests; and high-school students learn how cellphones and comic books can be powerful tools for visual communication.

The Connections Issue, October 2024

Art teachers share lessons that students can relate to, fostering a sense of self and community. Young students identify emotions and facial expressions while collaging, elementary students trace their countries of origins and share their findings through self-portrait photo compositions, middle-school students create aquatic themed rug canvases with important ecological messages, high-school students draw alongside Tibetan monks as they create a sand mandala, and more.

The Beginnings Issue, September 2024

Art teachers start the school year with lessons that engage students while teaching them foundational skills and techniques. High-school students create paintless paintings with tissue paper; middle-school students complete the second half of their self-portraits in the style of a chosen artist; elementary students use the elements and principles to draw realistic and abstract landscapes; young students learn about personal preferences while designing paper shoes; and more.

The Groundwork Issue, September 2023

Capture students’ attention and engagement with lessons that lay the groundwork for a memorable school year! In this issue, students learn about art room procedures while participating in a scavenger hunt, identify key strengths and how they can use them, develop personal connections to drawing exercises through altered books, create abstract compositions during a virtual artist visit, and more.

The Play Issue, Summer 2023

Play and process-based art abound in the summer issue! Art teachers share lessons in which students can take risks and experiment with materials in a stress-free environment. Students create artful sound sticks to express emotions, assemble 3D hats inspired by art careers, collaborate or work solo to engineer mixed-media parade floats, draw colorful portraits with exaggerated expressions, and more.

The Contemporary Art Issue, May 2023

Art teachers share exciting assignments inspired by the work of contemporary artists such as Jihoon Ha, Susan Strazzella, Mark Bradford, Jeff Sonhouse, Susan Rothenberg, Arturo Herrera, and more. Students borrow photos from one another to create meaningful compositions, use clay to make elevated serving pieces, incorporate postmodern principles into mixed-media self-portraits, and much more.

The Visual Culture Issue, January/February 2023

Art teachers encourage students to develop visual and digital literacy skills. Young students learn about Froebel’s Gifts and participate in a series of scaffolded lessons, elementary students explore the concept of unity in art-making and photograph compositional designs, middle-school students use surprising materials to construct hyperrealistic food items, and high-school students create imaginative Doodle Art inspired compositions.

The Collaboration Issue, December 2022

Art teachers foster a collaborative environment through group projects. Young students use a sewing machine and join their individual fabric squares into a class quilt, elementary students participate in a school-wide effort to learn about biodiversity protection efforts, middle-school students connect to real-world scenarios and interdisciplinary problem-solving to collaboratively design games, and high-school students team up with a former art student to create a mural.

The Story Issue, November 2022

Art teachers encourage students to tell stories through their art. Young students listen to a read-aloud and create clay creatures inspired by the book, elementary students illustrate influential figures in art history, middle-school students juxtapose natural and human-made elements through narrative compositions, high-school students manipulate images to create imagined landscapes, and more.