INTRODUCTION
The Frame Project was the result of brainstorming on a long road trip. I have been an advocate for Fine Arts education since the Dallas public schools almost eliminated it from the elementary curriculum some years ago. I am a three-dimensional artist. I make sculpture, book arts, videos, and installations. Because of these interests, I wanted to bring three-dimensional art lessons to a young audience. This guide shares my brainstorm with educators and young people in 4th through 8th grades. It is a tool to encourage meaningful, high-quality art composition, self-discovery, exploration of cultural diversity, and critical problem-solving and thinking skills.

Framing artwork and ideas employs integral aesthetic considerations that receive too little emphasis in many art classrooms. It is easy to unify framing with composition and color as part of an artwork.

The Frame Project encourages students to work out this important artistic integration. The Frame Project also exposes students to the work of culturally diverse contemporary artists. Over the years, I have collected slides of the work of important artists who integrate the frame into their art. Using these slides as examples, I have tried to inspire students to use a wide range of techniques in making their own art and to explore their own cultural heritage.

The Frame Project Education Guide is a culmination of these efforts. It is intended both for teachers and students in the school classroom and in special Frame Project workshops. It is also designed to help students meet education standards in Visual Art and English Language Arts. I believe teachers and students will enjoy their journey together through The Frame Project.

Kaleta Doolin, Director
Contemporary Culture, Inc.
Dallas, Texas

Want to know more? Download the Frames Project description.

STUDENTS WILL . . .
• Create three-dimensional artworks that reflect their own cultural heritage
• Study the work of selected culturally diverse contemporary artists
• Explore their instructors’ artwork as statements of who they are and how they work
• Brainstorm and choose personal themes for their own artwork
• Explore their own cultural heritage and those of others.
• Examine the concept of "found object" and collect found objects that relate to their personal themes
• Make three-dimensional objects and choose two-dimensional images that express their personal themes
• Consider frames as physical and metaphorical borders and find frames in their own lives
• Apply higher-order thinking skills to analyze tasks and plan their compositions
• Follow their plans to assemble drawings and paintings, using two- and three-dimensional objects within a frame to express their personal themes
• Think about and discuss how they made their artwork and how it shows cultural diversity.
• Create a class exhibit of their artwork and invite other classes to visit the exhibit
• Assess their own work and what they have learned about themselves, their cultural heritage, and their aesthetics