I’m going to tackle one of the most basic problems with teaching art when you are a non-artist: Art Supplies.

I remember when I first began teaching, I was asked to teach 7 grade levels and had one week to order art supplies and develop an art curriculum. Do you know what gave me the biggest headache? Paper! I could not figure out for the life of me what kind of paper art teachers were using. No one tells you. The websites I perused had images of beautiful art but I was baffled with what paper the teacher used to get such amazing results. It took me over a year of sampling special papers before I realized that the paper my school stocked for the classrooms was perfect for art. What paper was that? Sulphite paper! If you have no idea what Sulphite paper is, don’t worry. I have create a special Art Supply PDF for you to print out that will detail everything about each art supply that I think would benefit your children. It includes links to Blick art supplies so that you can see the product as well as read about it.

I remember when my children were young and I set up an outdoor art studio: rolls of newsprint, tubs of paint, texture tools, etc. I dreamed of my children creating, painting, exploring and then running off to Michaels to frame the resulting masterpieces. Um, not what happened. The art experience lasted about 5 minutes and all I got to show for it was a paint splattered patio and crying kids.

Can I remind you that I am an artist and an art teacher and this still happened to me? This scenario is fine if your goal is play time, but if you want to teach art, you need to set up a learning space.  This doesn’t mean you need to set up an elaborate art lab, but you need a few basic things…

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Over the years, I have received many emails from home-schooling parents wondering  how to incorporate my art lessons into their home-school curriculum. The questions range from which art supplies to use to how to adapt a lesson for different ages. I don’t have any experience as a home-school parent so I have always been reluctant to offer advice. But I got thinking and asking (thanks to my DSS Facebook group!) and have come up with some tips that might make the task of incorporating art into your home a bit easier.

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Its half way through my teaching cycle, which for me means that I’m on my second rotation for both my A and B groups. Creating, balancing and maintaining an art curriculum is crucial when I see each class only fifteen times per year. At times, I feel I’m a little too intense when selecting which art projects each class will do. Careful planning for each grade level helps ensure that each class will meet all (or almost all) of the state standards. I try to keep slots available so that if I have a sudden lesson inspiration (which happens often), I can add that to my schedule. I also try to be flexible when a class may require more or less from me…things like more free expression, less direction, etc. Each class is different, as is each student.

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Many readers ask me how to control noise in the art room. I appreciate why this is one of my most asked questions; a rowdy classroom can drive you nuts. It’s a hard question to answer as all teachers have different volume thresholds. You can probably sense from my blog posts that my threshold is [...]

Teaching art is a joy to me. My pace is relaxed, my schedule is perfect, my school is wonderful and my students are lovely. I try very hard to teach children about the world of art and try to cover as many areas of art as I can: artist studies, art genres, techniques and the [...]

By some strange coincidence, I have received about twenty emails in the last ten days from art teachers who are brand new to teaching art and are starting an art program but have no idea where to begin. I hear the utter distress in their voice, their uncertainty and their gracious pleas for help. I [...]

Earlier in the summer, I had the privilege of teaching an art instruction e-course to art teachers, home-school parents and classroom teachers from around the world. One of the best part of the e-course for me was the forum. Teachers expressed their concerns over tight schedules, asked for help with organization and contributed tips for [...]

There is something therapeutic about rehashing your curriculum efforts. I love creating lessons and after 8 years of teaching art, I know where my strengths lie.  I know what art technique will work for certain grade levels and by now, I can figure out which lesson will work best for a specific class. Not all grade [...]

I received an email from a reader who was having trouble figuring out how to structure her art curriculum. These types of questions are not easy to answer as developing an art curriculum is personal stuff and they take a long time to answer! I have my way of creating a curriculum, but another teacher [...]

Every once in a while I receive a comment or an email challenging the methods I use to teach art.  Why I would choose to do a directed-line drawing instead of observation? Or how could I possibly use a template in the creation of an art project? It stings at first but then I try [...]

We all dream of the perfect group of students listening attentively to our art instruction. We dream of children working creatively, thoughtfully and perhaps above all, quietly in our classrooms. Does it happen? Sure. Does it happen all of the time? Not really. Art room dynamics I love the active dynamics in my art room. [...]

In the series, The Organized Art Teacher, I will offer creative ways to start the year off with an organized mindset. Ever wondered how other art teachers store their old lesson plans and samples? What about creating a balanced art curriculum or how to track what each class created? And what about inside the art room…what’s [...]