High School

Mariah Wakker, Iʼm Toaster #426!, grade twelve.

The Essential Questions
How can artists follow or break from established traditions?

Objective
Students will learn one-point linear perspective techniques and infuse a personal creative twist to their drawings.

Materials
paper, pencils, rulers, portable drawing boards (optional), pens or fine-tipped markers (optional), colored pencils (optional)

Procedures
1. Guide students in how to create one-point linear perspective using geometric and organic shapes.
2. Model how to draw an interior hallway or room, or show students a tutorial video explaining the process.
3. Instruct students to find a location in the school to sit and draw the empty hallway in front of them. Portable drawing boards are helpful for this step.
4. A few class periods into drawing the hallways (or when students are nearly finished), give students the prompt, “Add something unexpected to your empty hallway.” Students brainstorm things that are funny, scary, exciting, strange, etc. This is an opportunity to discuss Picassoʼs quote, “Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”
5. Encourage students to incorporate their own creative ideas into their drawings. Optional: Students can outline their drawings with a pen or permanent marker or use colored pencil for emphasis.

Assessment
Students write an artist statement describing what they added to their drawing as an unexpected twist.

Dannielle Arneson is an art teacher at Sheboygan North High School in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.