ART THERAPY NOTE: While art and other creative activities are often a part of my professional work, I am not an Art Therapist. The phrase Art Therapist is reserved for those who have completed an art-therapy-specific graduate-level training rather than a traditional clinically-focused psychology program. When traditionally-trained therapists, counselors, and psychologists use art and art-making as part of treatment it is referred to as “expressive arts therapy” rather than “art therapy” (a phrase reserved for Art Therapists). The ideas in this post can be adapted for non-therapeutic OR therapeutically-oriented expressive arts groups and used by anyone, including art therapists, therapists using expressive arts in traditional therapy, and non-professionals interested in art prompts with depth.
50 fabulous Art Club ideas
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They say great minds think alike. Well, here is a collection of ideas pooled together by art teachers everywhere. If you have a great idea, write us, and we’ll add your idea. Meanwhile, here are 50 ideas to get you started. Some can be done virtually, and some with low or no budget.
- Inktober during October. Prompts can be found here.
- Host an open studio where art club members can bring a friend. I used to do this near course sign-ups!
- Pendulum painting. Directions for pendulum painting are here. Or better yet, watch one being done here.
- Execute a mural at your school. Inspiration here.
- Play Art Games. Some favorites: WatchamaDrawit, Pictureka, Roll-a-Miro, HUES and CUES, Mythical Creatures Drawing Game & Animal Art Ideas, Starving Artists Game, Das Kunst-Memo, The Art Matching Game, Modern Art, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, Artsy Fartsy, Doodle Face Game, Starting Lines, Ready, Set, Draw!: A Game of Creativity and Imagination, (https://amzn.to/3MtbTuy), Art Out of the Box: Creativity games for artists of all ages, Telestrations, Doodle a Droodle, Colorbrain,Bob Ross the Art of Chill, Happy Little Accidents, Scavenger Art: Creative challenges for curious kids, (https://amzn.to/39DwZHK)
- Design an art club t-shirt! Here is one I did with my art club. Try these t-shirts sold in packs, which comes out to be $3.50 apiece.
- Learn to tie-dye or batik; it is always a hit!
- One teacher did ongoing collaborative relief portraits of our administration using fruit loops and different colored Cheetos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3-HuPOCH0HALCri3y62zBtzWcrQqbLoe5zl1zclT4tsc0paF0d8tsFyu8&v=i2duYw2-yM4&feature=youtu.be
- Some schools reported painting school or local store windows for homecoming or for the holidays.
- Paint with residents at a local nursing home.
- Pumpkin carving contest or a gingerbread house contest.
- Valentine’s Day cards. See a great project fromMy Art Lesson link here:)
- Art teacher Erin Marie does big year-long projects with the senior students and smaller seasonal projects with the juniors. “As the year progresses, the juniors get to assist the seniors when needed. We have been doing wearable art….finding old wedding gowns and suits and using them as canvases that they can wear at our art’s night.”
- Host a college visit with portfolio reviews.
- Have an alum visit during college break to talk about their experience at art school and show work.
- Community Projects such as Empty Bowls or the Memory Project.
- Host a draw-a-thon.
- Create an ABC book for students in grade 1, illustrated by your art club members.
- Do Oreo cookie carvings. Wait, you haven’t heard about this? Check this out, and then buy your Oreos in bulk here.
- Participate in monthly Art Dares and Art Challenges such as at Art Prof.
- Host a gift night where students can come in and make a gift for someone.
- Take a field trip to a museum.
- Host a Bob Ross paint along.
- Art sale fundraiser for those with a kiln. This is an example of what art teacher Jenna Bailey did for her art club fundraiser. She reports, “ I have had great success having students help make ceramic jewelry that we sold before Christmas. We did it two years in a row, and it was a hit.
- Painted Rocks! Buy your river rocks in bulk here. Ideas and instructions here.
- Sticker Mule to create art club stickers
- Fundraiser activity idea: gift wrapping for teachers with gifts for the Holidays
- Origami! Origami paper can be found here. Origami instructions are found here.
- Have parents or local residents who work in an art-related career visit to talk about their careers.
- Start a door decorating service. Teachers can “hire” art club members to decorate their classroom doors.
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- Learn to yarn bombing.
- Make linocut cards.
- Make chia pets out of clay; video how-to here.
- Make homemade sketchbooks. Instructions and ideas are here.
- Watch an art movie or documentary (obviously, screen it first to see that it is appropriate for your school and age students). Examples: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Loving Vincent, Exit Through the Gift Shop.
- Learn calligraphy.
- Make zentangles. Lesson idea here. I love using this micron pen set, and I cut down white cardstock. Some great resources for Zentangle patterns can be found in these books that I highly recommend: Zentangle Basics 1, Joy of Zentangle, Zentangle Sourcebook
- Shibori Tie-Dye for fabric or paper workshop
- Found object collage, Loise Nevelson style.
- Create styrogami. All you need are Xacto knives and styrofoam cups.
- Do you have a ceramic program? Make a mug, and then have a hot chocolate party. Another possibility, good for both virtual clubs and in-person, is to decorate a paper Starbucks cup. See examples on Pinterest.
- Host an art drive. What is an art drive? Where families donate art supplies that are sitting around unused. Items might include Digital Cameras, markers, paper, crayons, etc.
- Hold a trashion challenge; ideas here.
- Try gelatin printing, how to make your own plate, and a lesson.
- Try making neurographic art.
- Make an exquisite corpse drawing. Instructions here.
- Marble paper or do what I did during the holidays with my art club and make marbled scarves for gifts. Or make these great gift bags and boxes, which I have also done. I recommend these supplies.
- Plastic wrap/packing tape sculpture installations.
- Make painters tape murals.
- Create a Chihuly-inspired sculpture like this one.
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Artistic group projects for adults
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Posted by Impact Posters Gallery on 22nd Feb 2016
Creative Group Art Projects for Adults
Have you ever had a time where you had a small to large size group together, and can’t find a simple creative thing to do? Well, that time is done. The following is the guidelines to a project that will entertain groups of all ages, and exercises the imagination and creativity of your guests. This project comes from an art form called “The Exquisite Corpse.” The name comes from the idea of having a group creatively create something that might be hard to identify.
The first step you need to take, is make sure you have enough supplies for everyone involved, paper, pencils, and anything they may want to use as their creative medium. Then take a large piece of paper and fold it in three equal folds. Hand out the paper, while remembering to give everyone a small roll of tape. This will come in handy. Now instruct everyone to secretly draw a head. It really doesn’t matter if it’s human or animal, cartoonish or realistic, just as long as it comes from somewhere in the creative mind.
Once everyone has finished, have them fold the paper in itself, leaving to marks on the middle section, to indicated where the neck of you head let off. Now, have them tape it shut, so it cannot been seen. Put all the drawing in something so they can be shuffled. The have everyone grab one from the bag. This way no one knows whose drawing the got. If they got their own, that is fine, it will make things that much more interesting upon the final reveal. Proceed by having them draw a body now, with the same stipulations as the first drawing. Then you repeat the same process once again, this time finishing the drawing with a pair of legs.
Once everyone has completed their tasks, one by one reveal the final product of each of the drawing. This may sound extremely childish, but it is a great way to see how people are creative in different ways. Some of the outcomes of these projects can be downright amazing. If you like yours enough, you might just want to frame it and put it up somewhere. The thing to keep in mind, is that art is subjective. It takes the mind to create it. In this case, the minds of a few different people. But in the end, the result is the same. You worked together to create a unique piece of art, that no one else would be able to recreate, without copying the piece from what was already done. So take this group art project idea and run with it. You can change it up anyway you like. If you find a change that really improves upon this method, be sure to share it with others, so it continues to evolve.
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ART PROMPT: Bob Ross Paint-Along
For one art group, we recently hosted a “Paint Along with Bob Ross” night. This prompt was intended to be playful and invitational, although even prescribed art can be expressive. The soothing and non-judgmental instruction of painting along with an episode of The Joy of Painting offers a low-barrier invitation to people who struggle with the fear of a blank page/canvas.
We simply found a full-length Bob Ross video online (Netflix has dozens!), screenshotted the list of required supplies (It also shows on the screen in the first few seconds of a show), and purchased small, prepped canvases and supplies.
I was intentional, as the leader, to invite participants to follow along or not follow along, and to either paint the scene, paint the scene the way they envisioned the scene, or to not paint the scene at all.
Supplies:
- Bob Ross Video (Netflix or Youtube)
- Canvases (we sized down to 8×10 and 9×12 canvases to fit our 1.5 hour meeting length)
- Paint (Bob uses oil, but we used acrylic, I just took the episode’s color list to an art supply store and purchased the acrylic equivalent to the colors listed)
- Supplies (A few decent brushes, big foam brushes for backgrounds, and palette knives, which Bob loves and we found thin rulers to substitute well for)
ART PROMPT: The Mask We Live In
3-dimensional mask making with air dry clay creates has possibilities.
Masks have long been a staple tool of art therapists, but decorating masks can be an expressive activity that works well beyond traditional art therapy.
Simply making a paper mask, or color or painting a pre-molded mask still limits the artist dimensionally. When I experimented with adding foam-type air-dry clay to this common art prompt, I was THRILLED with the way foam air-dry clay easily adheres to a premolded mask (no glue required!) and allows participants to build in more dimensions.
SET UP AND CLEANUP – This is one of the easiest prompts on the list! This prompt requires no printing, cutting, or prepping, and can be completed without special tools (like brushes, scissors, etc)
SUPPLIES REQUIRED:
- Air Dry Clay (I use this pack of 36 individually wrapped colors)
- Plain Paper-Mache Craft Masks (Avoid the plastic version, since the clay won’t stick)
ART PROMPT: Repurposed
Remember when you were a kid and all you needed was an oversized box to imagine you were flying into space or lounging behind a mansion? This prompt invites us to consider what we can imagine from what is discarded.
Supplies:
- Glue Gun + spare glue sticks
- Cardboard Knives
- Box Cutters
- Masking Tape
- Cardboard from Recycling
This is appropriate only for groups and workspaces that can safely handle knives and box cutters. My result from this art group meetup was this whale-shaped piñata, which I made extra-extra sturdy so I could use it as a whimsical shipping box for my niece’s birthday present:
Recommended reading on this topic:
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made through the links below, this commission helps fuel my continued creative work.
by Marian Liebmann
by Stephen Levine
