Flexible Studio Art Modules

Photography I, Collage, Collage II, Design Drawing, Photography II, Architecture, and Relief Printmaking are flexible, self-contained art modules designed for classroom instruction, blended learning, or independent study. Each module combines teacher guidance, visual slide decks, artist and art-history connections, videos, vocabulary, discussion and response activities, worksheets, project directions, reflections, checklists, and assessment tools. Students are given a clear path through the learning while teachers can easily step in for demonstrations, discussions, critiques, material preparation, or expanded studio practice. Modules can be taught from beginning to end or customized by selecting individual artists, lessons, activities, and projects to meet student needs and course goals.

Pacing is equally flexible. A module can become a focused 2–3 week creative experience, a more complete 4–8 week unit, or an extended quarter- or semester-long investigation incorporating additional practice, research, critique, revision, portfolio development, and presentation. This flexibility makes the collection especially useful for classrooms where students may enter at different skill levels, work at different paces, or need opportunities to continue learning more independently.

Photo 1

Photography I: Visual Storytelling

Photography I introduces five photographic genres: portrait, landscape, narrative, still life, and abstraction. Students study contemporary photographers, analyze images, practice composition, cropping, lighting, and editing, and move from casual snapshots toward purposeful photographs. They curate and title their strongest work, place it in a class gallery, complete a reflection for each genre, and demonstrate their understanding of photographic vocabulary.

This module works well as a teacher-guided introduction to visual storytelling, but it can also be completed independently by students who have access to a phone or digital camera, a computer or tablet, and the internet. In class, teachers can add photo walks, partner analysis, group critiques, or a physical exhibition.

Collage

Collage: Beyond Matisse

The Collage materials begin with an accessible Matisse-inspired cut-paper experience supported by a visual slide deck, video-response sheet, vocabulary activities, idea planning, and written reflection.

The extended Collage II: Beyond Matisse materials broaden the journey through the history of collage and artists who transform ordinary, discarded, photographic, and found materials into meaningful artwork. The lessons explore artists such as Kurt Schwitters, Mark Bradford, Romare Bearden, and Hannah Höch while connecting collage to memory, identity, community, abstraction, protest, mapping, and personal experience. Collage is presented as a flexible and affordable medium that may be created on a small or large scale and combined with drawing and painting.

Collage is especially useful when supplies are limited. Students can work with colored paper, magazines, packaging, photographs, recycled papers, fabric, text, drawing materials, and paint. It can be taught as a focused cut-paper lesson or expanded into a substantial mixed-media investigation.

Design Drawing

Design Drawing uses doodling, line, shape, repetition, pattern, and contrast as approachable entry points into composition. Students begin with 9–12 small experimental designs, reflect on their sketches, and develop one idea into a larger, more resolved final drawing. The module emphasizes creativity, focus, mindful mark-making, fine-motor development, craftsmanship, and the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.

The folder includes a slide deck, student checklist, main assignment, practice page, vocabulary activity and answer key, final-project template, reflection sheet, and rubric.

Because it requires only paper, pencil, eraser, pen or marker, and optional color, Design Drawing is one of the easiest modules to assign independently. It can also become a calming in-class routine, sketchbook practice, early-finisher activity, or full studio project. A natural extension of this assignment is the Neurographic Inspired Art Workbook under the Creative Journeys tab.

Photo II

Photography II: The Series

Photography II advances from individual photographic genres into the idea of creating a series of related images. Students learn how artists sustain a theme across multiple works while allowing each image to remain distinct. The slide deck examines photographers who explore family, community, public places, invented architectural spaces, memory, history, identity, and collected images.

The module reinforces the idea that artists often travel through an idea over time rather than resolving it in a single work. A series allows students to investigate a place, person, object, experience, or social question through multiple photographs.

This makes Photography II especially appropriate for longer independent assignments. Students can photograph outside class, return for periodic conferences or critiques, revise their theme, select a final sequence, and create a digital or physical exhibition.

Architecture (Old Courthouse Museum Contest)

Architecture

The Architecture module combines art, design, local history, and visual observation. Students trace connections from ancient Roman architecture through medieval Romanesque buildings and the nineteenth-century Romanesque Revival, then apply that knowledge to the historic Old Orange County Courthouse.

The lesson includes historical context, architectural vocabulary, exterior and interior reference photographs, important design features, student examples, an informational poster, submission information, and an artist-statement component. Students may interpret the courthouse through detailed drawing, expressive painting, ink, collage, digital art, realism, abstraction, or their own creative style.

This module works well as a cross-curricular classroom unit connecting visual art with history, geography, civic life, historic preservation, and community landmarks. It can also be assigned independently because students may work from the provided photographs rather than visiting the building in person.

Relief Printmaking

Relief Printmaking introduces the process of producing multiple images from a single carved block. Students investigate contrast, positive and negative space, texture, line, composition, proofing, editioning, signing, and titling while studying artists including Käthe Kollwitz, Favianna Rodriguez, Swoon, and Elizabeth Catlett. The artist examples connect printmaking to portraiture, narrative, cultural identity, community, transformation, activism, and social justice.

Students create a small edition rather than only one finished image. The materials explain that beginning printmakers produce a set of three prints and assess their work before numbering, titling, and signing the final edition.

Research, artist study, preliminary drawing, composition planning, and reflection can be completed independently. Carving, inking, and printing are best facilitated in class so the teacher can demonstrate safe tool use, organize materials, and help students troubleshoot pressure, ink coverage, and printing quality.

Collage II

Collage II: Beyond Matisse takes students beyond introductory cut-paper collage and into the history, ideas, and creative possibilities of modern and contemporary collage. Through an extensive visual slide deck, videos, vocabulary, artist-response activities, reflections, and hands-on assignments, students explore how Kurt Schwitters, Mark Bradford, Romare Bearden, Hannah Höch, Wangechi Mutu, and Arturo Herrera transform ordinary paper, photographs, found materials, personal memories, cultural experiences, and original drawings into powerful works of art.

Designed for flexibility, the module can be taught as one in-depth unit or divided into shorter artist studies to fit different students, schedules, and course goals. Each artist offers a different pathway into collage—from found fragments and layered street materials to identity, community, photomontage, surreal figures, abstraction, and experimentation—giving students multiple ways to look closely, think critically, and create meaningful artwork using materials that are readily available.

Dia De Los Muertos Altars - Argosy, HLC South, HLC North (2025)

HLC South at the College and Career in the Arts Day

Contact:

Julie Ochoa, M.S.

ART TOSA ACCESS/CONNECTIONS

714-245-6600, x 2753

jbauerochoa@ocde.us

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