The Place Issue, Summer 2026 [PROOF]

Published on 30 April 2026

Description:

Art teachers and their students learn from, transform, and reimagine the places and spaces around them. Young students connect personal growth to changes in nature, elementary students create abstract faces inspired by Detroit artist Tyree Guyton, middle school students design fantastical digital gardens featuring insects and flora, and high school students use yarn to illustrate cherished childhood memories.

28 articles from this collection:

The Place Issue, Summer 2026

Editor's Letter | Place

SchoolArts editor-in-chief Frank Juárez emphasizes that places and spaces provide opportunities for people to connect.

Amaco Brent

AMACO (American Art Clay Company, Inc.) continues to be a leader and innovator for ceramics in the areas of art, technology, and education.

Table of Contents

Advocacy | Artivism: Art and Advocacy

Students upcycle materials into art with a message, inspiring change in their school and local community.

Media Arts Essentials from Davis

The new Media Arts Essentials program bundles Davis’s media arts resources with resources on how to facilitate successful implementation. Get sixteen hours of professional development with a wealth of lessons and support for educators across grades K–12.

Managing the Art Room | Choose Your ArtVenture: Motivating Middle Schoolers

An art teacher implements a system for middle-schoolers that transforms the classroom into a place that supports both independence and guidance.

Point of View | Think Less, Make a Move: Tackling Artist’s Block

Students experiment and learn to take creative risks during a ripped self-portrait photography assignment.

Early Childhood ClipCard | Return of the Dinosaurs

Young students draw cityscapes and incorporate cut-paper dinosaurs, using at least three types of lines and shapes.

Elementary ClipCard | Bouquet Collage

Elementary students cut and paste overlapping shapes to create a hand holding a bouquet of flowers.

Middle School ClipCard | Beauty in Brokenness: Kintsugi-Inspired Pottery

Middle-school students learn about the Japanese art of Kintsugi and create inspired pieces by repairing broken pottery with gold materials.

High School ClipCard | Designing the Self

High-school students use a digital vision board to document their current artistic inspirations and interests.

Blick Art Materials

As a leading art supply company, we provide artists, educators, students, and our associates with the tools, assistance, and training needed to grow, innovate, and reach their creative potential. BLICK Art Materials is family-owned and serving artists since 1911.

Contemporary Art in Context | Ryan Adams

Painter and muralist Ryan Adams creates large-scale community works using a signature “gem style” to break down words and phrases.

Bailey

Bailey ceramic supplies and pottery equipment.

A Cherry Blossom Tree Study: Kinesthetic Learning with Children and Parents

Young students connect their own growth to changes around them, observing cherry blossoms blooming outside the classroom.

Leaving a Legacy: An Eighth-Grade Mosaic Mural

Middle-school students leave their mark before graduating by installing a permanent mosaic mural in an overlooked space near the school’s entrance.

Mayco Colors

Mayco Colors has been helping art educators inspire creativity in the classroom since 1954. We provide high-quality ceramic products, along with ready-to-use lesson plans and educational resources designed specifically for the classroom.

Yesterdays with Yarn: “Painting” Childhood Memories

High-school students discover the yarn paintings of artist Annie Lucille Greene and choose a positive childhood memory to illustrate with yarn.

The Freedom of Collage and Abstraction: Faces Inspired by Tyree Guyton

Elementary students learn how artist Tyree Guyton was influenced by his Detroit neighborhood and create abstract face collages inspired by his work.

Skutt

The #1 kiln used in schools. Kids Need Clay helps schools start and sustain ceramics programs with full support.

Fantastical Digital Gardens: Integrating Science into Art and Design

Middle-school students use Google Drawings to create unique secret gardens—imagined places filled with insects, flowers, animals, and more.

Vacation Destination Printmaking: Exploring Gel Plates and Linocut

High-school students embrace two methods of printmaking to design their ideal vacation spots and an accompanying postcard.

Square 1 Art

Simple. Creative. Art Fundraiser. Celebrate your child‘s art on keepsakes and raise funds for your school!

Into the Jungle: Drawing on Imagination

Elementary students learn that artist Henri Rousseau reimagined a place he never visited (the jungle) and sketch their own imaginative jungle scenes.

Focus In: Rochester Art Center

Discover a dynamic space for contemporary art that offers personalized, meaningful experiences for students.

The Studio Series from Davis

The popular Davis Studio Series fits art teachers’ diverse instructional needs, teaching styles, and classroom configurations while encouraging students to explore their own unique styles and interests. Titles in this studio art curriculum series include: Communicating through Graphic Design, Experience Clay, Focus on Photography, Experience Printmaking, Discovering Drawing, Beginning Sculpture, Exploring Painting.