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Which APPROACHES to LEARNING skill do you most naturally foster in your Visual Arts classroom and which one do you want to strengthen? Add your name and a short reflection

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Which APPROACHES to LEARNING skill do you most naturally foster in your Visual Arts classroom and which one do you want to strengthen? Add your name and a short reflection

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Visual Arts - Unit Planner - My IB - TSM

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Visual Arts - Unit Planner - My IB - TSM

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Visual Arts- Unit Planner : Art Making as Inquiry - My IB- TSM

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Visual Arts- Unit Planner : Art Making as Inquiry - My IB- TSM

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Visual Arts - Paterson, Poppy and Katz - Oxford 2027_compressed_compressed

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Suggested Course Outline Time line - My IB - TSM

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Suggested Course Outline Time line - My IB - TSM

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Thinking Skills (The Thinker, bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin)

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Thinking Skills (The Thinker, bronze sculpture by Auguste Rodin)

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Communication Skills (Creation of Adams - Michelangelo)

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Communication Skills (Creation of Adams - Michelangelo)

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Social Skills (Painting by Paulina WęGrzyn)

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Social Skills (Painting by Paulina WęGrzyn)

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Self management skills (M.C. Escher – Relativity)

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Self management skills (M.C. Escher – Relativity)

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Research Skills (Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook)

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Research Skills (Leonardo da Vinci's Notebook)

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1. Teaching as Inquiry

The classroom = studio, not just a room.

We learn with students, guiding their explorations.

We don’t have to know everything, we open doors.

2. Teaching for Concepts

Help students explore big ideas like identity, memory, transformation, power.

These ideas give depth and let learning transfer across contexts.

3. Teaching in Contexts

Students work from their world (local, personal) → connect with the bigger world (global, intercultural).

Helps them situate their art in a larger conversation.

4. Teaching Collaboration

Break the “lone artist” myth.

Use critique, co-curation, shared research walls.

Show that art is a community practice.

5. Teaching for Inclusion

Every student has a voice.

Respect pace, background, identity, language.

Mistakes = steps in the creative process.

6. Teaching with Assessment

Formative = conversations, feedback, reflection.

Summative = clarity, deadlines, student curation.

Remember: assessment is not just grading, it’s guidance.

7. Teaching Ethically

Guide students to handle sensitive topics with care (race, gender, body, politics).

Ensure art doesn’t harm, glamorize violence, or disrespect others.

Always connect art-making with care for people + planet.

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Artist Project Proposal structure - My IB PRC

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Artist Project Proposal structure - My IB PRC

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Artist Project - Mock portfolio- InThinking IB

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Artist Project - Mock portfolio- InThinking IB

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AP- Video Text for Mock Portfolio- InThinking IB

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AP- Video Text for Mock Portfolio- InThinking IB

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https://thenightstudio.com/creativity/creative-process/scamper-your-way-to-creative-excellence/729/

The SCAMPER method was developed by Bob Eberle in 1971 in his book SCAMPER: Games for Imagination Development, though it built upon a brainstorming checklist created by Alex Faickney Osborn in 1953.

How to use SCAMPER for visual artists in your own work

When is it best to use SCAMPER for visual artists? The answer is anytime in the process when you pause for reflection. Use it at the start of a process? Absolutely! Take your core idea and run a session with yourself (or others) to kick the idea around in different formats. Of course you do this already when conceptualising but SCAMPER for visual artists gives you a framework to address the possibilities in a more ordered way than before. It allows you to leverage a more organised approach to idea initialisation.

If you feel backed into a corner with a bit of work and you are struggling to get bring it to a satisfying conclusion or feel like you’ve embarked on something that is ultimately unfulfilling? SCAMPER may well be what you need. Run the idea, and product if you have one, through these hoops and see what comes out.

Who to involve in this process

Whether or not you involve others in the process is a matter of personal choice. There is no right and wrong with that. Other perspectives are certainly useful and I advocate getting feedback from peers in my version of the creative process. Sometimes you just need to think it through yourself first. You certainly wouldn’t be alone if when doing this you end up reaching for any distraction to hand. This type of thinking is hard work and your brain just wants to take the path of least resistance until you train it do otherwise.

By adapting the SCAMPER technique in this way, you can approach your work with a more structured and systematic way of thinking. This will help you generate new ideas and assist in overcoming the challenges of creative block. My hope is that these modified SCAMPER prompts will help you focus more on the development of ideas and conceptual thinking earlier in your creative process, which may in turn lead to more unique, innovative and satisfying work.

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Inquiry Questions on Materials - InThinking IB

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Inquiry Questions on Materials - InThinking IB

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1. Why do artists follow or break from established traditions?¹

2. When exploring traditional materials, how can technology help open up unexpected possibilities?

3. How do artists learn from trial & error?¹

4. In how many ways / How can ______ [insert media/material] be transformed?

5. How far can ______ [insert media/material] be pushed?

6. What risks am I willing to take to push the boundaries of ______ [insert media/material] ?

7. How can I engage my whole body in the process of using ______ [insert media/material] ?

8. Which alternative tools open up new possibilities for working with ______ [insert media/material]?

9. How do processes build upon one another over time?

10. What meaning(s) does ______ [insert media/material]  carry?

11. How do materials affect mood?

12. How do different approaches affect the ways materials are seen/understood?

13. Why/how do artists translate the world around them through materials?

14. How does time [i.e. this year, seasons, time of day, right now] affect the way I use materials?

15. How does time [i.e. this year, seasons, time of day, right now] affect how I portray the world around me?

16. How does place [i.e. this classroom, city, country] affect the way I use materials?

17. How does time [i.e. this classroom, city, country] affect how I portray the world around me?

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Contemporary Artists Exploring Time - InThinking IB

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Contemporary Artists Exploring Time - InThinking IB

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https://thinkib.net/visualarts/page/59831/creative-strategies

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Art Seed Bank - New Course - InThinking IB

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Art Seed Bank - New Course - InThinking IB

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How to generate ideas with SCAMPER Technique

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How to generate ideas with SCAMPER Technique

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How to Generate Ideas with the SCAMPER Technique

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Scamper Technique [BEST IDEA GENERATION METHODS]

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Filmed in 2000 at Richard Serra's Manhattan studio, the artist describes the various tools and conceptual strategies he has used throughout his career when working with lead and steel. Serra discusses his early focus on the nature of the art production process itself which resulted in his writing a Verb List (1967-68).

Multiple lead works that resulted from Serra acting out the Verb List are shown through archival images. Serra's invention of a tool that twisted sheet metal around a wheel enabled him to shape steel in a new way-from the inside out. Torqued Ellipses (1996-97), which resulted from this process, are shown at Dia:Beacon in 2004.

More information and credits

Credits

Producer: Ian Forster. Consulting Producer: Wesley Miller & Nick Ravich. Interview: Susan Sollins & Catherine Tatge. Camera: Ken Kobland & Pete Shanel. Editor: Morgan Riles. Artwork Courtesy: Richard Serra / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York & Dia Art Foundation. Theme Music: Peter Foley.

Closed captions

Licensing

Interested in showing this film in an exhibition or public screening? To license this video please visit Licensing & Reproduction.

Richard Serra's early work in the 1960s focused on the industrial materials that he had worked with as a youth in West Coast steel mills and shipyards: steel and lead. Since those Minimalist beginnings, Serra's work has become famous for that same physicality-but one that is now compounded by the breathtaking size and weight that the pieces have acquired. His series of Torqued Ellipses (1996-99)-which comprise gigantic plates of towering steel, bent and curved, leaning in and out-carve very private spaces from the necessarily large public sites in which they have been erected.

Interview

Richard Serra discusses his earliest interests as an artist and how he spontaneously named his large-scale installation in San Francisco Charlie Brown.

Art21 is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent of the law.

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Tools & Strategies, Richard Serra - Art21

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Art21 is a celebrated global leader in presenting thought-provoking and sophisticated content about contemporary art, and the go-to place to learn first-hand from the artists of our time. A nonprofit organization, Art21's mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists.

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Richard Serra: Verb List - InThinking IB

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Richard Serra: Verb List - InThinking IB

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Inquiry Questions on Material Exploration

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Inquiry Questions on Material Exploration

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1. Why do artists follow or break from established traditions?¹

2. When exploring traditional materials, how can technology help open up unexpected possibilities?

3. How do artists learn from trial & error?¹

In how many ways / How can ______ [insert media/material] be transformed?

4. How far can ______ [insert media/material] be pushed?

5. What risks am I willing to take to push the boundaries of ______ [insert media/material] ?

6. How can I engage my whole body in the process of using ______ [insert media/material] ?

7. Which alternative tools open up new possibilities for working with ______ [insert media/material]?

8. How do processes build upon one another over time?

9. What meaning(s) does ______ [insert media/material]  carry?

10. How do materials affect mood?

11. How do different approaches affect the ways materials are seen/understood?

12. Why/how do artists translate the world around them through materials?

13. How does time [i.e. this year, seasons, time of day, right now] affect the way I use materials?

14. How does time [i.e. this year, seasons, time of day, right now] affect how I portray the world around me?

15. How does place [i.e. this classroom, city, country] affect the way I use materials?

16.How does time [i.e. this classroom, city, country] affect how I portray the world around me?

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Material Exploration : 4 Choices - InThinking IB

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Material Exploration : 4 Choices - InThinking IB

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Course Planner- Year one - InThinking IB

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Course Planner- Year one - InThinking IB

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Prompts - Exploring Place as Inquiry - InThinking IB

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Prompts - Exploring Place as Inquiry - InThinking IB

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1. Recall places you’ve lived in using all five senses.

2. Using all five senses, what do you observe in the physical location where you’re sitting right now? Take 2 minutes to look and observe before beginning to write.

Picture this same spot in the past and future, what changes?

3. Imagine you had to explain something about the time in which you live (now) to someone …100 years ago.

4. Imagine you had to explain something about the time in which you live (now) to someone …50 years from now.

5. Recall a historical or current event that has affected your country or culture.

6. Describe a tradition, celebration, or custom from your culture or nationality.

7. How does language shape the way you see and describe the world around you?

8. Imagine meeting an artist from another time or place—what would you say?

9. Imagine making art in a different country or time—what would change?

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Inquiry related to Artworks' context (Situating)

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Inquiry related to Artworks' context (Situating)

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1. How do the social or political conditions of an artist’s time and place influence their choice and portrayal of subject-matter in this artwork?

2. How do traditions shape the material or technique choices used by an artist in this artwork?

3. How do the artist’s material choices in this artwork reflect resources, technologies or innovations in their original context?

4. What dominant ideas, events or movements of their era is the artist addressing or challenging within this artwork?

5. What is the artist’s background (culture, gender, religion, class, nationality) and how does this influence their selection of concepts within this artwork?

6. How might the meaning of this artwork change if viewed by an audience of a different place or time from the artist’s original context?

7. How does the representation of certain groups of people within this artwork reflect the artist and/or the culture’s social attitudes of the time in which it was made?

8. What story is the artist telling in this artwork that’s particular to their culture or time/place in the world?

9. Which cultural or historical symbols/motifs did the artist use in their artwork and why?

After conducting some initial research through 1-2 questions above, it's time to investigate an artist's work practically. What does this mean?!

Examples of practical investigation include:

Recreating a small study using the same materials or techniques as the artist (i.e. Pablo Picasso's continuous line drawing, Bisa Butler's quilts)

Experimenting with the artist’s process or approach (i.e. George Seurat's pointillism technique, Henri Matisse's paper cutouts, Hannah Hoch's photomontages)

Creating a series of sketches or mock-ups inspired by the artist’s themes, subjects, or compositional strategies (i.e. Do Ho Suh's use of memory, Yayoi Kusama's polka dots)

Combining research on the artist’s context with your own hands-on work to see how historical or cultural factors that influenced their choices could inspire your unique ideas.

As you engage in practical investigation, be sure to analyse and annotate your own experiments in a visual journal, noting what worked, what didn’t, and how your results compare to the original artist’s work. As your projects conclude, you can reflect back on this stage of your inquiry process to better understand how it informed and shaped your work.

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I will not make any Boring Art, John Baldessari - MoMa

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I will not make any Boring Art, John Baldessari - MoMa

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John Baldessari, I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art

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Bill Viola, Electronic Renaissance - video art

Is Fashion Modern? -fashion

Onggi Master - ceramics

Photo Montage Collage -photography

Shinique Smith -textile sculpture

Graffiti and Street Art -ditto

The Clock, Christian Marclay  -video

Mona Hatoum -sculpture

William Kentridge -animation

Textiles: Boro and Sashiko  -textiles, fashion

New Video Art Visions  -video and internet art

Ephemeral Art -that 'bout says it...

Sound Art  - big discussion here...

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Last Updated on April 2, 2023

Many art students begin the year by brainstorming possible ideas, topics or themes for their art projects. This article features creative mind map examples and other visual brainstorming illustrations to inspire high school students.

Sometimes coming up with ideas for an Art project takes place within the classroom - an interactive discussion between students and teachers; on other occasions students formally document ideas within their sketchbooks. Humans have a tendency to think in a multi-dimensional way - that is, with lots of things occurring simultaneously, triggering further ideas. Rather than attempting to record thoughts in a sequential, linear fashion (i.e. writing these down in lists or paragraphs), students can find it helpful to collect, record and organize ideas graphically, using visual diagram such as a mind map. If this brainstorm is submitted as part of assessment material, it is essential that this is presented well.

What is a mind map?

Mind map creator Tony Buzan coined the term 'mind map' to refer to a diagram that has a branch or root-like structure radiating from a central image on the page, and which uses lines and color to show relationships, groupings and connections between words, ideas and images. A mind map helps students think clearly and ensures that a range of possibilities are considered, encouraging thinking outside-the-box.

How to make a mind map

Tony Buzan's recommendations include: using a landscape format; starting with a central image to represent your topic or theme; using curving lines to add main branches to the center and then connecting these to smaller branches; using single words and images; and adding colors for aesthetic and organizational purposes.

It should be noted, however, that when your Art teacher asks you to begin creating a mind map, they are almost always happy with any visually pleasing representation of ideas - such as a tree diagram, spider diagram - or even just a splurge of thoughts on paper, as long as it documents a range of ideas and possibilities connected to a theme (or a set examination topic). The examples below, therefore, contain different visual brainstorming methods, not just those that are official mind maps.

Guidelines for Art Students

When brainstorming ideas for a high school Art project, remember that:

Single words are unlikely to express an idea adequately. As you think though possibilities, it is likely that you will want to jot down whole phrases and brainstorm possible ways of beginning or approaching a subject. Intentions and possibilities should be clear to someone else who reads the mind map at a later date;

Images should be sourced first-hand (i.e. drawn or photographed yourself) or clearly referenced, and should be integrated within the mind map in a visually pleasing way;

The appearance of the mind map is crucially important. This is likely to be one of the first things an examiner sees when opening your sketchbook - first impressions count.

Creative mind map examples and visual brainstorming ideas

Please note that although some of these presentation methods are more complex and time consuming than others, this not does mean they are better. Sometimes a quick, expressive splurge of ideas upon paper is all that is needed.

Take a beautiful photograph to place in the center, as in this example of a mind map by Dave Tiedemann:

Use painted areas to contain text, as in these creative examples by artist Martha Rich:

Draw lots of small pictures to illustrate ideas visually, as inspired by this map of London reimagined as the human body, illustrated by Nicole Mollet:

Use collage to make a mixed media mind map, as in this example by high school student Chloé Zinn:

Integrate a mind map with an 'incomplete' image that extends across the page, inspired by this digital illustration by Alex Plesovskich:

Collage torn images, textures and surfaces together, as in this example by Brittney:

Create mind maps from flowing painterly forms, as in this amazing example by artist Ward Shelley:

Draw over an abstract watercolour ground, as in this artist mind map by Roberta Faulhaber:

Create a simple mind map using text, with circles and dots for emphasis, as in these examples by Lia Perjovschi:

Record a stream of consciousness using handwriting and images, as in this journal by Sabrina Ward Harrison:

Brainstorm ideas using chalk on a blackboard or whiteboard and photograph it, such as this mind map by Julien Muckensturm:

Make a mind map on small pieces of paper and cardboard, inspired by the road map created from multiple sketches by strangers, compiled by Nobutaka Aozaki:

Attach images and notes to a pinboard, as in the 'Capturing Memory Mind Map' by Red Biddy:

Hand write ideas over a photograph, as in this example by Stefan Sagmeister:

Create a mind map online using free mind map software, a mind map app or any other digital drawing tool, as in these bubble diagrams by Leoni Wharton:

Make a textural collage of ideas, as in this GCSE Art mind map by Jessica Rump, while studying at King's Lynn Academy:

Produce a sprawling hand-drawn mind map, as in this example by Tlemermeyer:

Use illustrations and colors to communicate and emphasize ideas, as in these sketchbook pages by Eva-Lotta Lamm:

Integrate observational drawings, as in this example by high school student Laura Viruly:

Organize ideas visually in a grid formation, as in this illustration by Grid London:

Add a painterly splurge in the center, from which ideas extend, as in this Year 11 exam example from Bishop Luffa School:

Integrate text within an artwork, as in this example by Julia Lewis-Thomas:

Use multiple colored pens, as in these examples by Asiphe Sinari and Elà Aguiar:

Use a ruler to frame images and text, as in this example by Annie Richardson:

Once you have selected a presentation method for your brainstorming, the next step is to actually generate some ideas! Please read our guide to selecting a great Art project idea.

You may be interested in our new book: Outstanding High School Sketchbooks. This book has high-resolution images so that fine details and annotation are clear, making it an excellent resource for students and schools. Learn more!

Need more help with your high school sketchbook?

This article is part of a series we have published about high school sketchbooks. You may also be interested in viewing our other sketchbook resources:

This mind map collection is continually updated. Please bookmark this page so that you can return to it when needed! If you would like to submit your own mind map for inclusion, please contact us. ????

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How to Make a Mind Map: Creative Examples for High School Art Students

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This article features 23 creative mind map examples and other visual brainstorming illustrations to inspire high school Art students.

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A good studio for an artist is a very important place. Our creative studios might sometimes look like a pile of rubbish or a mixed-up room, but this is where great creations are born!

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IB Visual Arts HL Artist Project (First Assessment 2027)

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IB Visual Art SL "Connections Study" (First Assessment 2027)

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IB Art Inquiries Portfolio (First Assessment 2027)