Artist Research Project

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A culmination of my middle school students’ Art History education, this is one of my school’s favorite projects.

 Students learn about and take notes on a different "Artist of the Month" all year (or for several years when the student has been at my school for their whole middle school education). 

In the spring of their 8th grade year, students choose one artist to write a paper on and create artwork in the style of.

A crucial step before beginning an Artist Research Project is to decide how students will learn about the artists. I teach my students about a variety of artists using PowerPoints from my TpT store. If you teach a student about an artist of the month every month from grades 6-8, you could cover 30 artists by the end of 8th grade! Or you could teach one artist every week to cover even more! 

My students take notes on the artists we learn about using a note-taking worksheet, which asks for just about all the information they need in order to write their papers.  At the middle school level, I prefer this method over having students independently research artists using books and the internet, because it gives them the practice of writing papers without the temptation of plagiarism. Students may be intimidated by the idea of writing a research paper, and using the internet to search for information makes it way too easy to just "copy and paste". Having them take notes on the artist first forces them to form their own sentences and paragraphs, helping them develop the necessary skill of putting information in their own words. If you do choose to allow your students to independently research their artists, I suggest spending some time addressing plagiarism with your class. 


The Artist Research Project is divided into two parts, the first of which is the written research paper. The research paper is typically about a page long, just 3-4 paragraphs. The instructions provide an outline that breaks the paper down into an introductory paragraph (information about the artist's life), one or two body paragraphs (information about the artist's work and style), and a concluding paragraph (the student's opinion and interpretation about the artist).

The second part of the project is creating artwork in the style of the artist. Students can replicate one of the artist's most significant works, or create artwork in the artist's style.  The artwork students choose to recreate should be discussed in their paper. These finished artworks make a stunning end-of-the-year art display!!

This full Artist Research Project, with the Student Instruction Handout, a Grading Rubric, and the note-taking worksheet, is available on my TpT store, All About Art!


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