Your email*




Inspiration [Conversation]

Visually Stimulating vs Over Stimulating

Started on Sep 03, 2012 by jfrisco
Last post on Feb 28, 2013

How do you decorate your Art Classroom? How do you make sure it inspires creativity without overstimulating students?

1 Keeps, 0 Likes, 6 Comments

  • ArtKat0508 09/03/2012 at 02:43pm
    The fire marshal makes sure that we won't visually stimulate anyone or anything. Nothing hanging from the ceilings, nothing on the wall 2' from the ceiling, and only a certain percentage of the wall can be covered. What little I'm left I try to make count.


  • RuthByrne 09/05/2012 at 08:41am
    Art Kat, I hate to laugh at your sad situation, but your opening line was amazing.

    I like to leave decoration to the kids. I put up some famous works on cabinet doors and elements and principles posters by the board, this year I put up some paper lanterns by the art library and my desk. After that I put up artwork, grades sometimes make "installation" projects, so its useful for that.

    The thing the kids seem to respond to the most (besides student art) is the famous artwork. Some of it they've seen (thanks, Sponge Bob), some of it confuses them, and some of it sparks conversation. Perfect!


  • SuperMrsGardner 09/06/2012 at 03:53pm
    I fill my wall space with famous and not so famous artwork. I also leave room for all of the artwork the kids make for me. I wish we could hang stuff from the ceiling, mean old fire marshall.



  • jfrisco 09/09/2012 at 06:09pm
    Your room is great Taurine75. :)


  • Astabeth 02/28/2013 at 01:37pm
    I used to have posters all over, but over the years I have removed them in exchange for fun stuff. Each year our National Art Honor Society has a TASK party and my room is decorated with cow heads (some wearing helmets), birds, and mannequins that have had creative heads attached (one is a jack-o-lantern, one is a styrofoam head painted green with red construction paper lips and a pipe cleaner mohawk). There is an origami crane made from a college recruitment poster hanging from the ceiling. My bulletin board has cartoons students have printed out (Salvador Dali eating a bowl of surreal) and laminated newspaper articles that feature students' work. It is a random mix of stuff, and non-art students that visit often gawk at what they see. But it makes my room a fun and quirky place and promotes NAHS. I like it, and I think my students do, too. My room is so small and crowded that they would be overstimulated by anything, anyway!