The lessons in the When Art Talks curriculum explore works of art that depict either still lifes or narrative-inspired art. Lessons in this interdisciplinary curriculum engage students in topics in the disciplines of visual art and language arts.

Beginning-level activities address elementary school standards, intermediate activities address middle school standards, and advanced activities address high school standards. However, middle and high school teachers can use less advanced activities in warm-up discussions or to review basic principles.

Lessons 1–4 of 4

Tactile Poem—Forest Textures
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will identify new vocabulary using a work of art. They will generate a list of descriptors for that vocabulary using a texture/touch activity. They will then apply their new vocabulary, including adjectives, to a class poem about the textures they see in the painting.

Shapes & Grapes: Create Poetry Using Still Lifes
Grades/Level: Lower Elementary (K–2), Upper Elementary (3–5)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students generate new vocabulary by discussing descriptive words, or adjectives, and the names of shapes they see in a still life painting. Inspired by an object in the painting, students then use their new vocabulary to create a shape poem.

Relating to the Urban Environment
Grades/Level: Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students will examine a photograph and participate in a class discussion about their own experiences living in the urban landscape. They will create a collage from magazines that reflect life in the city as they have experienced it. They will then write about their collage of the city.

Before, During, and After The Musicians' Brawl
Grades/Level: High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, English—Language Arts
Lesson Overview: Students discuss a 17th-century painting that depicts musicians in the middle of a fight. They will write a one-paragraph description of the painting in the present tense. Students speculate about what happened before and after the scene depicted in the painting, and then use past and future tenses to write narratives based on their speculations. In the narratives, each student will add descriptive idioms about characters in the painting and draw a visual representation of an idiom.

Lessons 1–4 of 4