One Object, 20 Ways – Photography handout designed to enhance students’ creativity and skills.
Ceramic Chess Set Lesson plan that combines ceramic chess pieces with the construction of a chessboard with various options. Students have the option to make a useable chess set or an abstracted version of one that is non-functional.
Lesson Plans
Ceramic Chess Set Lesson plan that combines ceramic chess pieces with the construction of a chessboard with various options. Students have the option to make a useable chess set or an abstracted version of one that is non-functional.
One Object 20 Ways photography handout This activity is designed to enhance to students’ technical skills and creativity by having them photograph one object in the classroom in 20 ways, using different composition, lighting, and creative prompts.
Cyanotype Cards This Grade 9 lesson plan is easily adaptable for Grade 10-12 students. There are various options for creating cyanotypes, also known as “sun prints” (collecting plants, finding various objects, inverting photos, using stencils, etc.).
Put Yourself in the Picture This drawing and painting project asks students to communicate a concept by representing one or more of their body parts into their image, using materials and technologies that best suit their theme. Involves Choice and Voice.
Through an Opening In this drawing/painting unit, students examine how framing influences storytelling, and how they can direct their audience’s gaze. Involves Choice and Voice.
Monsters in My Head: Otani Workshop – Middle School+ lesson plan inspired by Japanese artist, Shigeru Otani that includes a mixed media painting project, as well as a ceramic sculpture that incorporates found materials.
The Alma Stripe painting project (Graduation lesson plan inspired by the work of African American artist, Alma Thomas; easily adaptable to Intermediate grades)
Affirmations in Art – Words that Uplift (This unit engages students in expressing identity and emotional awareness through affirmations; can be adapted for Primary and Intermediate)
No Memory is Ever Alone This lesson was inspired by the work of Catherine Panebianco, and her series “No Memory Is Alone”, in which she reimagined family moments using her dad’s old slides. Her work shows how memories can connect to our present experience. It is intended for photography classes but could be adapted to other courses, using devices that have cameras.
Object Drawing Inspired by Joe Rudko In this project, students are asked to take inspiration from the work of Joe Rudko, who created the cover art for Death Cab For Cutie’s album Kintsugi, in a style he calls Object Drawings, which uses found imagery.
Video Production – The Silent Movie Graduation level project that involves creating a silent film for a target audience, with a storyboard, background soundtrack, title, and credits.
Fragmented Portraits Student Handout This is a student-ready handout for creating fragmented portraits inspired by the work of Brno Del Zou, using PhotoShop or other digital imaging software.
Body Politics Inquiry This unit is inspired by the work of Elizabeth Hollick, a painter and muralist based in White Rock, and her Body Politic/Body Parts in Strange Places exhibits. Students research environmental issues, and could consider at UNESCO’S 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Creating Contrast For this assignment, students will reference an image of a photo they have taken and make a black and white rendition of it. The main objective is to use contrast to create a more dynamic piece. A secondary goal is to practise drawing skills, including measuring for proportions.
The Story of my Neighbourhood This Graduation unit examines the power of art to communicate stories, and students create graphite drawings and clay sculptures that reveal stories about their own neighbourhoods.
Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox This lesson plan encourages students to explore their identity in relation to an animal with whom they have an affinity. It was inspired by “Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox”, the award-winning children’s book by Métis author, Danielle Daniel.
Architecture and Watercolour For this assignment, students create compositions based on a creative architecture photograph they’ve taken, giving consideration to angles and perspective. Includes provisions for Choice and Voice.
Identity Portraits This Graduation lesson plan leads students through exploration of who they are, who they want to be, and how they want the world to see them. This project enables students to look for the deeper meaning in portraits and especially to think about what an artist can do to provide insight into themselves as they create self-portraits.
Umbrella Revolution Project This Grade 9+ lesson plan was inspired by the events of the 2014 protests in Hong Kong, known as “The Umbrella Revolution”. Students explore an issue of importance to them through their own umbrella painting.
Fantasy Photos Students create an overpainted photograph using photography as a setting or background, and paint on top of it to create a subject or character. E.g., realistic or stylized animal or person, character from a movie or video game, etc. , to create a fantasy or surreal effect.
Painting with Light Students photograph a subject in the dark (no daylight or lights) with a long exposure time, “painting” it with a flashlight to reveal the details while the shutter is open.
Visual Journalling – presents the purpose(s) of visual journals, along with resources, examples, and Learning Standards of the BC Curriculum.
Gargoyles and the Alter Ego Ceramics lesson plan focused on identity and social-emotional learning. Create a personally meaningful gargoyle form using ceramics techniques, while exploring personal identity.
Animate a Painting Inspired by “Night at the Museum 2”, students animate a famous work of art that is in the public domain. Animations could range from simple (e.g. twinkling stars) to more complex (a simple story), depending on age level and experience.
Textured Painting Students create a textured landscape inspired by the work of artist Laura Harris, as they explore the ideas of stylization and minimalism, where details come from the texture and colours.
Diopters and the Elements & Principles of Design This lesson is aimed at helping students improve the quality of their photography both technically with the use of diopters, and stylistically with the use of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.
Animals with Style In this unit, students draw an animal of their choice and add a creative spin to it, such as through spot colour, merging two different animals to create a hybrid, dressing their animal, drawing it on a found surface (newspaper, maps, etc.).
Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism Students engage in a liberating experience of painting with the outcome left to a degree of chance, creating a mood through colour choice, as well as the degree of energy and movement they choose when applying the paint.
Eco Animal Sculpture Inspired by the work of artists such as Chris Jordan and Brian Jungen, students create sculptures using “eco materials” – materials chosen for their sustainability and environmental awareness.
Stop Motion Using Apps This lesson has been designed for a) younger students; b) people who are new to animation; c) those who don’t have access to more sophisticated film equipment; d) anyone who would benefit from simpler technology. Even with simpler technology, creative students can produce some terrific work. Please note that the app information is out-of-date ($, etc.)
The Social Contract A simple 3-day activity to allow senior students to become familiar with philosophical thinking the arts. Students look at Social Contracts as presented by Thomas Hobbes, and Lee Walton’s “Get Over It”, and then create a short video based on a social contract they have identified. Can be adapted for Intermediate students.
Medicine Wheel Mixed Media Inquiry A collaborative project where students work together in 4 groups, each group exploring the teachings of one of the colours of the Medicine Wheel, to create a completed set of 4 abstracted images.
Animal Portraits Students research famous artists and how they created animal portraits, and then come up with a plan for their own. Inspired by the story of Bella & Don.
Forced Perspective An engaging lesson on forced perspective, a technique that employs optical illusion by placing objects or staging people in a certain way to affect distance, size, and viewpoint.
Manual and Digital Photomontage Students working in either digital or manual photography combine 2 images in PhotoShop to create a surreal, humourous, imaginative, social, or political message.
Speed Dating Photography Students research chosen photographers and select some of their works to share with other students using a “speed dating” format, discussing craftsmanship, composition, and choices the photographer made.
Lost Civilizations This project involves going on a field trip to a forgotten or abandoned place and to tell the story of this place through photographic images rather than words. The point is to uncover a “lost civilization” and share it with the rest of the world.
Christmas Parody With this project, senior students become familiar with a famous painting from art history, researching the artist, their chosen work, and its social/political background. They then create a parody. The Christmas theme can be altered easily to a more inclusive one.
Abstract Acrylic Painting Students make small viewfinders and then choose small sections of images from magazines to find an abstracted compostion that still has a clear focal point, repetition, contrast, etc., but contains nothing easily recognizable. (Graduation level)
9 Panel Drawing Image Development Strategies Students create representations of a small object using 9 different image development strategies. In this lesson, they will use a variety of media, and expand their design repertoire.
The Creative Process. A comprehensive handout for students, guiding them through the Creative Process, from idea generation, to research, experimentation, composition & image development strategies, feedback, creation, and reflection.
Photographic Composition – a detailed and helpful slideshow with beautiful examples. Some of the slides are directed at teachers, but most slides are student-ready.
The Vibrancy of Visual Journals An article by North Vancouver teacher, Gamelle Fitzgibbon, on the value of visual journals for both students and teachers
Aboriginal Artists Poster This poster is a list of traditional and contemporary First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists, arranged by alphabet. It also provides their Nation(s) and a brief description of their work (medium, genre, etc.).
Teaching Students how to Critique A list of K-12 Learning Standards from the BC curriculum that show the progression of reflection and feedback through the grades, as well as links to resources that present a variety of ways to engage in critique that are age-appropriate
Inspiration Bingo A Bingo-format collection of quick art activities ranging from sketches to sculpture and photography to stimulate creativity and thinking outside of the box.
Artist Inquiry Tent Cardsn attractive ready-to-print-and-assemble “tent card” with inquiry prompts to guide students through responses to particular artworks. Questions range from observation to inference and opinion. Print off enough copies for your students to work in groups or pairs. One student reads from the question side, while the other(s) use the sentence starters on side 2.
Alannah M.
