Art activities examples

A ‘Daily Art Experience’ for every student
This can be run without disruption to the curriculum. At the end of an assembly or lunch break, every student is given the opportunity to make a five minute drawing, encouraging awareness of personal creativity.

Intaglio and relief printmaking workshops
The use of a mobile studio van equipped with printing press/equipment can be made available. The value of this activity is that students can see the process from etching on the plate, to the pulling of a proof. This can be repeated and further work can be added to the plate, making adjustments and assessing the work as they go. The students are often excited to see the stage by stage development of their print image.

Sketchbook workshop
This involves ten different ways of drawing a view/object, encouraging each student to develop their own style of drawing. This is important in building up their sense of individuality and confidence, getting away from the idea that drawing has to be ordered and disciplined and reinforcing the idea that it is okay for a student to make their own marks.

Film making workshops using DV video and ‘Imovie’ editing equipment/software
This encourages teamwork and utilises all the varied skills available in one class; it involves the students in costume and set design, script writing, make-up, narrating, acting, illustrating, animating, editing – everyone gets involved!

Community arts project
A wider ranging project that could include the students’ friends and family from their native countries. In a previous project, students made a life-size elephant sculpture in a joint effort with students of the same age from Bombay in India. Using the internet, the students were able to connect, swap stories and learn about each other’s cultures and experiences; all the pictures, letters and stories that they collated were used as inspiration to create a printed fabric for the skin of the elephant. This sort of project works incredibly well in a multi-cultural class, fostering a better understanding and appreciation of diversity.

Mural project
Based on a theme relevant to an event or project currently running. It gives the opportunity for large amounts of students to collaborate on a joint venture, sharing the process of adjusting and developing an image through time. This encourages students to communicate well with each other whilst working within creative guidelines. It teaches the students the skills needed to research, plan and prepare a given subject. This often spans many subjects within the school curriculum.

'Footnotes' Visual Thinking Workshops
Oliver West’s alternative learning methods and study skills introduce learners to visual thinking techniques that can allow them to realise their full learning potential. Footnotes techniques can be used to develop skills in the following areas:
• Personal management skills such as finding a focus, keeping a focus and problem solving strategies for thought processing and communication
• Collating ideas and information using ‘sketchbook wallet’ memory triggers
• Sketchbooks & presentation preparation
• Note-taking strategies
• Story/Essay planning and structuring
• Spelling strategies
• Reading strategies
• Research techniques
• Time management techniques
• Strategies for short and long-term memory

Click here to see an example itinerary of a typical Footnotes workshop day.