Space is one of the seven basic building blocks of art along with Line, Form, Shape, Value, Color, and Texture. Using site specific art as a starting point, we highlight the techniques that artists use to control and manipulate space in their work.
Texture is one of the seven basic building blocks of art along with Line, Form, Shape, Value, Space, and Color. Here we look at the how visual artists try to stimulate our sight and our other senses through different textures. They create something that we can see and feel or imagine the feeling of and try to engage us in that way as well. Learn how different textures (and implied textures) convey different feelings here.
Check out the entire collection of KQED Art School videos!
Value is one of the seven basic building blocks of art along with Line, Form, Shape, Color, Space, and Texture. Through the lens of black and white photography, we look at how artists produce value scales and contrast, and how different kinds of lines change the way we perceive depth and space. Learn how different values can invoke different emotions in this video.
In this interactive lesson, discover how literary techniques like figurative language, imagery, and symbolism contribute to the overall meaning of a poem. Explore how a poet establishes and builds on a theme. Learn how to tell the difference between tone and mood. Through a close reading of Maya Angelou’s famous poem “Caged Bird” (1983), practice unpacking the language of poetry while learning about some of the various tools a writer can utilize when writing a poem.
This student-directed lesson can be completed online. Students will require a login if the instructor desires that they save their work to the platform. You will find detailed instructions on how to set up and manage accounts, class rosters, and assignments in the Help section of the interactive lesson plan.
Elisabeth Higgins O'Connor creates poignant, larger-than-life figures that are seemingly cobbled together with reused scrap materials including wood, textiles and newspaper.
Learn the story of Ella Baker, the unsung hero of the civil rights movement who founded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960, in this video from The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.
Designed for middle and high school teachers, we’ll consider how to tackle misinformation, how to analyze digital media, and why it’s important for your students. Robert Costa is the Moderator of Washington Week, the Peabody Award-winning weekly news analysis series on PBS. Costa is also a full-time national political reporter for The Washington Post, where he covers Congress and the White House and regularly travels the country to meet with voters and elected officials.
Led by PBS Digital Innovator All Star Leigh Herman and PBS Station Representative Mary Anne Lane this session highlights exciting resources and models that you can immediately implement in your classroom.
Prioritizing fun, engaging and accessible tools for your students, the series will highlight techniques for analyzing media, and amplifying student voice through authentic storytelling.
Linda Black Elk is passionate about plants. Linda Black Elk is an ethnobotanist and professor of ethnobotany and science education at Sitting Bull College in Fort Yates, North Dakota and recently she traveled to the Cansayapi Oyate (the Lower Sioux Indian Community) to share her knowledge of medicinal plants with students there.
Two lesson plans for grades 9-12 are included as gallery assets and in the Support Materials.
Artist Evah Fan makes drawings, zines and more in a style that is influenced by wordplay and folk art techniques. She tells visual stories through her interpretation of words she finds tantalizing with their multiple meanings. She emphasizes that style is not a skill that can be found overnight, but rather developed over years and realized in retrospect.
How do you make artwork that is conceptual? Artist Robb Godshaw uses technical means to move things that can’t be moved, or make visible things that aren’t normally visible. Watch as Godshaw scavenges electronic waste during an artist residency at SF Recology.
In this activity, students investigate how scientists monitor changes in Earth's glaciers, ice caps, and ice sheets. The activity is linked to 2009 PBS Nova program entitled Extreme Ice.
Children in kindergarten through fifth grade and their families are invited to learn more about the field of engineering in this hour-long special program. Family Night: Engineering introduces children to cool careers within the field of engineering that range from building roller coasters to designing artificial heart pumps for children who need them. Children will also get a chance to participate in hands-on engineering activities during the program!
The best part? Everything they need to participate can be found right in your home.
The forces of fate and free pull at Romeo and Juliet’s relationship throughout the play, and it is up for debate whether fate or free will plays a larger role in the tragic events that unfold in their story. Examine the balcony scene to see how these forces are already at play from the very beginning of their relationship in this video from Great Performances: Romeo and Juliet.
In this video, several scientists identify and describe examples of increasing health problems that they believe are related to climate change.
In this video from August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand scholars discuss Fences, the Tony Award-winning drama about a former Negro League baseball player and his family. The video features performances of two scenes from the play along with critical commentary.
Sensitive: This resource contains material that may be sensitive for some students. Teachers should exercise discretion in evaluating whether this resource is suitable for their class.
Fireflies Musical Yoga for Kids is a 12-part series, consisting of three-minute instructional videos presented by Kira Willey, nationally acclaimed kindie artist and musical yogini. It provides educators with a wonderful tool to help children connect their bodies and minds to music and positivity.
David Huffman is a Bay Area artist who heavily uses basketballs and astronauts as symbols of African Americans' cultural trauma and historical homelessness. He uses these two specifically because they serve as metaphors for self-discovery in a place that has been previously hostile. Basketball is a sport that connects cultural divides, and the astronaut suit protects those who are venturing into dangerous places in order to see things they have never seen before.
"Weird Al" Yankovic might be the first person to come to mind when you think of parody music, but did you know that composers like Bach, Mozart, and Satie have been parodying each other's work for centuries?
Nahre and LA explore the history of parody music from the 1700s to the YouTube parodies of today. Scott Dikkers, founding editor of The Onion, explains why humans love parody so much and why it's so hilarious. Nahre and LA compose a dance hit to the tune of the Barney theme song.
Learn about the trailblazing, gender non-conforming performer Gladys Bentley with this digital short from Unladylike2020. Gladys Bentley fled her homophobic Trinidadian immigrant family in Philadelphia, PA at age 16 to join New York's Harlem Renaissance jazz scene as a cross-dressing performer. In a time when homosexuality was widely considered sinful and deviant, Bentley wore men's clothing -- a tuxedo and top hat -- and became famous for her lesbian-themed lyrics covering popular tunes of the day, and for openly flirting with women in the audience. In the 1950s, succumbing to pressure from the black church and McCarthy Era harassment of the LGBTQ community, Bentley said of her gender identity, "I am a woman again!" Constantly reinventing herself, Bentley challenged norms and pushed boundaries. Support materials include discussion questions, vocabulary, a research project on queer identity during the Harlem Rennaissance, and a close reading of Bentley's famous essay, "I am a Woman Again".
Learn how metalsmith Glen Horr at Highland Forge uses metals, handmade tools, and creativity to create sculpture.