Essential to any introductory art course is instruction in the basic elements of art. For younger audiences, these elements can begin with discussions of line, shape and form, and then can expand into discussions of color and texture. Working with older or more advanced students allows you to expand learning into topics such as proportion and perspective. Coinciding with this discussion can also be exposure to various artistic media and methods. Young students can explore basic techniques such as drawing and painting, while more advanced students can learn about more complex methods, such as printmaking or photography.
Interjections of art history can enliven your introductory art class by helping to illustrate artistic methods and media through important examples. Young students can learn about the expressive qualities of art through studying works like Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 “Starry Night,” or explore line and pattern by examining the tessellations of 20th-century Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher. Older students enjoying a lecture on printmaking would benefit from included discussion of 16th-century German printmaker Albrecht Durer and his intricate works.
You can also make art and its methods more relatable to your students by connecting it to real-world examples. For younger students, you can discuss how shapes, colors and line create symbols in our everyday world, such as identifying a red octagon on a street corner as a stop sign or a wavy blue line on a map as indicating a river, or you can introduce concepts such as landscapes or still lifes using the everyday environment. For older students, you can expand this discussion into art around the world or discuss the role of art in today’s society, looking at topics ranging from graphic design to the role of museums to public art, such as installations or murals.
An introductory art course for students above the grade school level would also benefit from class time discussing potential art careers. You can use these course meetings to explore the wide variety of careers available, from becoming a cartoonist to entering the field of graphic or game design, and incorporate with each one some of the more specialized arts training needed. For example, you could include with your discussion of graphic design the basic principles of computer software that facilitate digital design output.