Chad Hasegawa paints portraits of bears and notable artists, and his style is influenced heavily by the Abstract Expressionist movement, and a thrifty approach to materials. He has created murals throughout San Francisco and shown his paintings and sculptures in galleries. His work balances between abstract and figurative art, with dense, wild brushstrokes that are often pieced together to create recognizable forms.

Chompers is a trio of abstract coyotes with levers to lift and lower their heads and open their mouths so that they can appear to be howling at the moon. They were built by the artists at Opera-Matic, a neighborhood art group from Chicago that specializes in community engagement. Opera-Matic was invited to bring Chompers to the BLINK festival in Cincinnati. The BLINK festival was a celebration of light and art with a focus on interactivity. The “coyotes” were a big hit with festival-goers, especially children. They are mounted on recycled ice cream bikes for easy mobility in parades.

Hit the streets as your own, custom-made Superhero and work for the common good of your city! Artist Amy Franceschini has fashioned an inspiring lesson that will help guide you through the entire process from brainstorming logos, mottos and costumes to ensuring that your Superhero works to help solve a community's needs. This lesson is part of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's Open Studio.

Check out the entire Open Studio collection for more activities centered around contemporary art: https://www.sfmoma.org/educators/

Ranu Mukherjee creates "Hybrid films" using layers of video, paintings and collage to create moving images. In the latest episode of Art School, Mukherjee unpacks the narrative and details behind her newest piece, Home and the World, which examines cultural hybridity, the aftermath of colonialism, and feminist questions. Inspired by a scene from a film by Satyajit Ray, as well as the composition of traditional Indian lithographs, Mukherjee combined these influences with her own visual culture to create a subtle but complex moving image.

Johanson reflects on the past decade of his career and shares his philosophies on art making in the first Art School video from KQED. Then, Johanson creates a simple painting based on Venn diagrams, an art lesson developed for students in partnership with SFMOMA for their project, Open Studio: Artist-Designed Classroom Activities.

Reading and creating comic strips and comic books are engaging ways to promote literacy at any grade level and across content areas. The students in this video are members of a high school comic book club and have access to drawing tablets and Adobe Photoshop, so they can achieve sophisticated results. Even without such software, however, teachers can still integrate digital comics into a wide range of teaching situations.

There are a number of comic books, especially contemporary ones, that are not “school appropriate,” so you might want to guide students’ web research on comic books.

As an English/digital media teacher at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Kentucky, Jason Behler has found that his students become deeply engaged when creating their own podcasts, especially because he allows them great freedom in selecting their own genre and content. His students develop skills in collaboration and time management as well as technical and communication skills. Podcasting does not need to be confined to a class in digital media, and it does not require expensive equipment. Podcasting can be integrated into any content area to add spark to your lessons.

Music educator Michelle Lewis teaches her students how to create vodcast music lessons. Lewis hopes that their vodcast YouTube channel will help students in schools without a music program learn music concepts.

This unit is about the role of the curator in the art world and their power to confer value and legitimacy within a culture. The intended audience for this unit is a high school entry level art class entitled Exploring Visual Design taken by all high school grade levels. The goal of the unit will ultimately be to address Anchor Standard 6 in the National Core Art Standards by asking students to curate their own art exhibit that communicates a message and conveys meaning to their intended audience. Along the way, students will also explore themes of identity, community and representation as they prepare for their role as curator.

Georgina Drapeau and Mat Pendleton of the Lower Sioux Indian Community talk about the revival of quill working traditions taking place in the Minnesota River Valley, inspired by master quill workers Hope TwoHearts of Cansayapi and David Louis of Flandreau, South Dakota.

A lesson plan for grades 7-12 is included as a gallery asset and in the support materials.

More About This Resource
Daughter of a master quill artist, Georgina Drapeau and Mat Pendleton of the Lower Sioux Indian Community near Morton are interviewed for a story about a revival of quill working traditions taking place in the Minnesota River Valley, inspired by master quill workers Hope TwoHearts of Cansayapi and David Louis of Flandreau, South Dakota.

Pieper Bloomquist uses natural materials and homemade paints in the Swedish styles of Dalmålning and Bonadsmålning. She studied under master artists Karen Jenson of Milan, MN and Judith Kjenstad of Minneapolis, MN and works from her studio in Grand Forks, ND.

Postcards is an award-winning series showcasing the arts, history, and cultural heritage of western Minnesota and beyond. Funding for Postcards comes from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. To watch more Postcards visit our show page or video portal.

Pioneer PBS is a viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing local stories of the region with the world. Support our mission and become a member at here.

Watch the clip, Bomba or Baseball, from Alma's Way to spark conversations about dancing and not getting things right on the first try. Then, introduce the activity to help students practice developing their coordination skills and work to strengthen their large muscles.

NOTE: The PDF document assets and Support Materials are also available in Spanish.

Sixteen dancers from across the country, representing a range of dance styles, move as one being, with each dancer's moves flowing naturally into the next. Poet Chinaka Hodge narrates each dancer’s steps from all around the United States as we shelter-in-place. Inspired by Mitchell Rose's Exquisite Corps chain letter, each dancer begins in the last pose of the dancer before passing the movement.

If Cities Could Dance is a Webby Award-winning video series featuring dancers from cities across the United States. Step into the shoes of dancers from across the country who dare to imagine what it would look like if their city could dance.

Extension Project: Give your middle and high school students the opportunity to create and publish original dance videos with an accompanying artist statement with the KQED Youth Media Challenge: If Schools Could Dance.

Jeromy and Lyndy Franklin Smith describe their roles in the Lexington Theatre Company. Jeromy, the producing director, focuses on logistics, contracts, and budgets. Lyndy, the artistic director, concentrates on auditions and casting, public relations, and marketing. When a show is in production, the two share directing duties. Collaboration with each other and their staff makes for a successful show.

In this episode of Art School, visit Paccarik Orue in the studios of Rayko Photo Center where he is currently an Artist-In-Residence. Tag along with Orue as he makes photographs in the Iron Triangle neighborhood of Richmond, California. From 2009-2011, Orue photographed residents and structures there for his book titled, There Is Nothing Beautiful Around Here.

Orue also introduces us to his latest body of work, which is centered in the city of Cerro de Pasco in his home country of Peru. Cerro de Pasco is one of the highest cities in the world, perched atop the Andean Mountains. Even though he has returned to his homeland, Orue feels like an outsider.

In the second video, learn how to scan, clean and color-correct medium format film, as Orue demonstrates the necessary steps for digitizing color film negatives.

This audio piece produced by KQED explores the life of Dorothy Arzner. Perhaps the most prolific female director in movie history, Arzner was the first woman to be accepted into the Directors Guild of America and is the inventor of the boom mic. She directed more than 20 unflinchingly feminist films from 1927 to 1943, before finishing her career teaching at UCLA’s film school, where she left a lasting impression on countless students, including Francis Ford Coppola. Anzner did, said, and filmed whatever she wanted and blazed a trail for the many who followed.

Activities For Post-Secondary Educators and Students

Short Description:
Drawing in class is often seen as a distraction to learning. We are here to change that, with a series of activities designed to get both students and teachers benefiting from the power of visual thinking through drawing.

Long Description:
Communicating visually, through drawing, is a core practice to many fields and endeavors. However, in the world of post-secondary educators, it can be seen as fraught with peril. The barrier of one’s perceived drawing ability, on top of managing a lecture or facilitating a discussion, often means educators are hesitant to take advantage of a visual practice to its most benefit. This is a missed opportunity, but the situation is changing. More people are realizing the power of drawing as an extension of thinking, taking advantage of how the act of drawing generates new ideas and reveals unseen connections.

Quite simply, Drawing in the Classroom, generates learning.

Word Count: 4557

(Note: This resource's metadata has been created automatically by reformatting and/or combining the information that the author initially provided as part of a bulk import process.)

In the prime of her career (1930 - 1960s,) African American dance legend Katherine Dunham and her company toured over 60 countries, and she performed on Broadway and in Hollywood films. She created the Katherine Dunham Technique, bringing together elements of dances from the African diaspora -- including Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, and Trinidad -- with modern dance and ballet. The rigorous technique is credited for bringing Black dance to the classroom and to the stage, where it has mesmerized audiences globally and transformed the world of dance.

The program Dunham created runs to this day at the Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, and continues to revolutionize lives with dance and culture. Meet some of East St. Louis’ culture keepers, including Ruby Streate, one of Dunham’s most trusted teachers whom Dunham passed the baton to, and choreographer and educator Keith Tyrone Williams. Watch dancers Heather Beal and other Dunham program alums perform at the Mississippi River’s edge, in front of the Katherine Dunham Museum, and in downtown East St. Louis.

Learn about the fundamental connections between math and music, in four Acts: Rhythm, Frequency, Harmony and Fractals. Concepts presented in the video documentary are reinforced by hands-on experiments using the Google Chrome Music Lab Experiments.

Color is one of the seven basic building blocks of art along with Line, Form, Shape, Value, Space, and Texture. Learn how different colors have different impacts on how emotions are conveyed through art.

Form is one of the seven basic building blocks of art along with Line, Space, Shape, Value, Color, and Texture. Through the eye-fooling genre of Trompe L'oeil, we look at a variety of techniques artists use to transform shapes into forms and give their art depth and dimension.

Check out the entire collection of KQED Art School videos!