In conversations with youth and agents, as well as analysis of National 4-H curricula and the 2021 CSU Extension Issue Canvases, the following needs were identified:

• A program for young and middle teens in out-of school time

• A full package developed for agents who may not have experience with art or design

• Incorporation of DEI concepts and cultural competencies

• Inclusion of life skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving

Perfectly Imperfect engages Young Teens and Middle Teens in relevant activities such as:

• Time outside the home

• Communicating and bonding with peers

• Developing self-awareness

• Finding solutions to problems

• Developing and executing plans

• Independence

• Finding and embracing their unique identity

Seventh Grade

Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend

1) Analyze works of art and apply the language of visual art and design to infer meaning.

2) Recognize and interpret works of art through the lens of time, place and culture.

3) Employ concepts, issues and themes from other disciplines to solve visual arts problems.

Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect

1) Determine meaning from works of art and design using visual literacy skills such as interpretation, negotiation, appreciation and selection.

2) Utilize appropriate vocabulary in the critical analysis of works of art.

Standard 3. Invent and Discover to Create

1) Plan, anticipate outcomes and use feedback to grow as an artist.

2) Demonstrate technical skills and processes to achieve desired results.

Standard 4. Relate and Connect to Transfer

1. Investigate how artists, designers and scholars narrate their social context.

2. Identify where the visual arts and artistic thinking are present in the real world

3. Communicate messages about societal problems through the creative process.

Eighth Grade

Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend

1) Interpret works of art using the language of visual art and design and conceptual art frameworks.

2) Synthesize and evaluate how time, culture and artistic style relates to contemporary art concerns.

3) Apply key concepts, issues and themes of the visual arts to solve problems using real-world applications.

Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect

1) Utilize visual literacy skills to establish personal meaning and interpret the artistic intent of others.

2) Analyze, interpret and make informed judgments about works of art using different points of view.

Standard 3. Invent and Discover to Create

1) Employ feedback, planning and ideation processes to develop artistic voice.

Standard 4. Relate and Connect to Transfer

1) Interpret the ways individual makers become agents that express the interdependent relationship between art, culture and social contexts.

2) Discern and articulate the impact arts, design and creativity have on a variety of lifelong endeavors.

3) Demonstrate an understanding that art can be a vehicle for social change.

High School

Standard 1. Observe and Learn to Comprehend

1) Utilize the inquiry method of observation and the language of visual art and design to gather information and determine meaning.

2) Interpret, analyze and explain the influence of multiple contexts found in visual art and design.

3) Use artmaking processes as forms of inquiry to increase independent reasoning and perception skills to increase knowledge.

Standard 2. Envision and Critique to Reflect

 3) Examine the nature of diverse aesthetic experiences to build a language of representation that can be used to respond to the world. 

Standard 3. Invent and Discover to Create

1) Establish a practice of planning and experimentation to advance concepts and technical skills.

2) Ideate and build works of art and design to demonstrate growth and proficiency in traditional and new art media.

3) Articulate and demonstrate that the making and study of art and design can be approached from a variety of perspectives.

Standard 4. Relate and Connect to Transfer

1) Research and analyze the ways visual artists, designers and scholars express personal views and beliefs and how these perspectives have a social context that enlarges the meaning of an artwork beyond the individual maker

 3) Utilize the practice of artmaking, and research historical and cultural contexts, to discern between different viewpoints, critique social problems and effect social change.