Teacher-Inspired Artworks

Students wrap up their eighth grade year with one final art project—one that students and staff members always look forward to. It generates studentsʼ interest and drive, even though they only have a few weeks left in the school year. This assignment is called the TeacherInspired Artwork, and itʼs an opportunity for students to create an artwork for a teacher or staff member who inspired them during their middle school career.

From bus drivers to core teachers, electives, and guidance counselors, students choose someone who impacted their school life during their sixth-, seventh-, or eighth-grade year. Students could choose someone who teaches their favorite subject, someone who made them enjoy their least favorite subject, someone who has been emotionally supportive of them, someone who has made them feel happy and safe in their classroom, or even someone who simply always had a smile and a friendly greeting for them.

Discussing Symbolism and Developing Questions
To introduce this project, we discuss symbolism through images and color and how this can be helpful when designing a work of art with a well rounded individual as the subject.

Students then develop a Q&A and interview their chosen teacher. The questions range from educational, personal, and even humorous and silly ones such as, “If you were an ice cream flavor, which would you be?” The range of questions gives students a full view and understanding of their subject as a person, as someone who is not just a teacher or staff person who lives, sleeps, and eats at school, but someone with a full life and interests. Students use all this knowledge to formulate design ideas for their final artworks.

Sketchbook Planning
Students choose a two-dimensional technique to demonstrate during their sketchbook planning process and develop symbols associated with their individual. At this point in the curriculum, students have learned a variety of two-dimensional techniques, explored a range of media, developed an understanding of color, and mastered compositional techniques. This project is very open-ended and gives students a way to showcase what they learned throughout the school year by producing a strong technical and symbolic work of art.

A Worthy Challenge
Students love working on this project. The artistic freedom in media, design choices, and composition gives them the ability to include their own interests and explore how they want to showcase themselves as artists. There is a bit of pressure involved in this project, but over the years Iʼve gotten the sense that the pressure drives students to create strong works of art that they consider worthy to give to the teacher or staff member who inspired them.

Iʼve observed a strong work ethic and focus on this project, even in students who many not typically demonstrate these qualities. I believe this is because they want to “get it right” or “make it perfect.” Itʼs a big ask for students to pour their time, creative energy, and talent into an artwork that they will ultimately give away—it ʼs personal and also generous, and I think they want to create a work of art that is equivalent to the educational knowledge, love, and support they received from their subject during their middle-school years.

Gifting the Works
Once the artworks are complete, we wrap up the project with an artist statement that serves as more of a thank-you note than an explanation of artistic expression. In their statements, students explain the symbolism and intentionality of the composition, but the focus is on why that student selected that teacher and the impact that person had on them.

Students hand-deliver the art and statements to the individual. A photo is taken of the teacher and artist and posted alongside the artwork for display. These moments are a beautiful and ceremonious way to end the year— teachers usually cry and the scene puts a smile on everyoneʼs face. I can tell you from experience that being on the receiving end of one of these artworks is simply magical, and truly one of the best ways a teacher or staff member could ever be recognized.

Lasting Mementos
The artworks hang in the hallways of the school as the end-of-year art exhibition, which stays on display over the summer. Once the works are taken down at the beginning of the next school year, they are given to the teacher as a thank-you from the student, and many of the teachers hang the works in their classroom on permanent display.