Primers and Gessoes

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In this lesson plan, students design and construct a 3-dimensional letter using one of their initials. The surface can be decorated with descriptive words and images that are personally meaningful and unique to the student's identity. Instead of wet, messy adhesive, this process uses paper packing tape to create papier mâché. This tape is inexpensive, easy, and tidy to use, and the finished letters are hard and durable.

Inspired by the painting and sculpture of Edgar Degas, this lesson allows students to explore proportion and describe movement using a flat, paper doll-type figure that can be manipulated when wet and is rigid when dry.

"Observing and reproducing the distortion caused by a concave reflection is the topic of this lesson plan, as students make self-portraits inspired by M.C. Escher's “Hand with Reflecting Globe.” The canvas is a vinyl bouncing ball. Elementary ages can be challenged to create a continuous painting — with no beginning or end — then “Have a Ball!” playing with their own artwork."

Easily teach the concept of a horizon line while making a beautiful symmetrical pressed landscape. Fold paper in half, then transfer paints and pigments in a method similar to the Rorschach prints. After printing, add detail using markers. The process is customizable based on age. Just press for younger students, or add sophisticated details at older ages.

In this particular lesson plan, students will look closely at the work of Louise Nevelson, known for her abstract sculptures made from cast-off pieces of wood — actual street “throwaways” — uniformly coated with black or white spray paint. Students will create their own assemblages from wood pieces and other cast-off objects on a panel.

Understanding the Difference Between Primer and Ground

What Is Canvas Sizing and Why Use It?

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