Welcome to Art Class Curator! This podcast is something that’s been in the back of my mind for years and I’m excited that it’s finally happening. Each episode will dive deep into different aspects of teaching art – from passionate art teachers sharing their work to mini-trainings on art appreciation strategies that you can use in…
pablo picasso
Close Encounters with Art – Art Observation Activities
Inside: Creative and engaging art observation activities that will help students connect with and remember works of art long after class ends. How can we help our students truly see a work of art? Not just glance at it to make a judgment about whether or not they like it but really experience and connect…
How to Teach Abstract Art
Inside: Use this abstract art lesson to teach abstract art to your middle school and high school students. Students draw a bull four ways and look at art by the Bull Series’ by Pablo Picasso and Roy Lichtenstein to learn the process from realistic to abstract art. My kids could do that! How many times…
Art, Horror, and The Sublime: Pablo Picasso’s Guernica
Inside: This Guernica lesson includes a free worksheet for exploring the symbolism in one of Picasso’s most famous artworks. On September 11, 2001, the world was glued to their television sets. We witnessed the repeated footage of planes slamming into the two towers and the crashing of the buildings to the ground killing thousands, footage of…
My Art Bucket List
I’ve had the great fortune of seeing a lot of incredibly amazing art in person with my high school/college travels to Europe and my recent travels to NYC, but there are still many artworks that I long to see. Here are the artworks that I haven’t met in person yet but absolutely need to before…
5 Artworks to Promote Introspection
Welcome back to my Art Round-Up series where I curate groups of paintings around themes for use in your home or classroom. Each post, I will pick 5 artworks that you could start discussing today with your kids. Today’s topic is artwork to promote introspection. These are great artworks to sit down with and use…
10 Artworks Perfect for an Art Criticism Lesson
Through my many years of teaching, I’ve accumulated a nice list of artworks that are perfect to discuss with students and teach them how to analyze art. These artworks spark lots of interesting ideas, have easy to notice design choices that contribute to the meaning, and always lead to a great art criticism discussion (or…
Artworks that Use Shape
I’m continuing the Elements and Principles of Art series today with a post that includes example artworks that use shape. I will add to this list when I find more, so this is a good one to pin or bookmark! The horizontal images do not contain all of the examples. Download the Free Elements and…
The Ultimate Collection of Color in Art: Examples and Definitions
It’s time again for an Elements and Principles of Art post! This post includes good examples of color in art, divided into categories. This list of examples of color in art contains the following elements of color: warm and cool colors in art, primary color art, complementary colors in art, analogous colors examples, neutral colors in…
The Lives of the Artists: Can we separate art and artist?
I used to have a coworker who HATED Picasso. He was a womanizer she said, but I argued that it doesn’t matter. Picasso is a genius who changed art in so many incredible ways. On the same note, one of my close friends hates Georgia O’Keeffe because she took a class about her in college…
Best Artist Books and Movies for Kids and Adults
Although I don’t think it is necessary to study the lives of individual artist to enjoy and connect with their artwork, hearing stories about artists can make their art come alive in new and exciting ways. Several months ago, I received a message from a reader. This is what she said. My number one struggle…
A Year of Art Appreciation for Kids: 52 Artworks your Child Should Know
I have compiled for you a massive list of artworks for you to look at with your kids this year. I picked one artwork for each week of the year, and I tried to pick the best of the best. If you haven’t been showing art to your kids, this is a great list to…
20 Great Artworks to Look at with Young Kids
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to help parents talk about works of art with their toddlers and preschoolers. To help you get comfortable talking about art with your kids, I’ve put together a list of 20 artworks that work well with toddlers and preschoolers. My two-year-old sat on my lap while I…
One Week in New York City
As I have already mentioned, I recently took a trip to NYC for about a week. I thought I’d document our New York City itinerary for those planning their own trip and as a way to journal my own experience. Here goes! Day One: We took an early early flight to NYC from Dallas. We…
5 More Great Children’s Books About Art
I’m back with more art children’s book recommendations to add on to my previous list. All of these books I either own or have read before. I’ve used all of them in either my classroom or with my own kids. I highly recommend each book on this list! **This post contains affiliate links. Beautiful Oops!…
Which New York City art museum should I visit?
I have a major dilemma (fwp) here that I am trying to work out, so I thought I’d work it out here on the blog. In a couple of weeks, I am visiting New York City for the first time (squee!). I am super excited. My husband and I are going for five full days…
