Art As Story

Art Concept: Art as StoryTelling

Artists often try to tell a story with a work of art. It's no wonder people always say “a picture paints a thousand words.” What does that mean? Show examples of artworks that tell a story (examples below) and have students tell a short story about what is happening.

Recommended Book: Free Fall by David Weisner. No words are used to tell this story.

Sample Projects

Design Your Own Monster (Kindergarten) art lesson, inspired by Maurice Sendak.
Aboriginal Dot Art (3rd Grade) art lesson.
Make up a sentence/situation then have the children draw it. Do several examples for one minute each and/or one long descriptive short story. (Examples: I let go of my red balloon and it floated away. The chicken told the cow that he was going for a walk to find the goat. The princess smiled at the little child.)
Have the children draw something from an experience that made them happy.
Have the children illustrate a story they know such as Little Red Riding Hood or Goldilocks and the Three Bears and make books out of them. Have the pages prepared ahead of time so that they can concentrate on the drawing not the writing.
Make original dancing "Wild Things" like in the classic Maurice Sendak book. Cut them out and mount them on black paper or in a forest for display in the classroom.