Outreach Program for Teens: Nailed It Art Contest

Type: Self-directed
Age: High school
Optimal size: 11-20
Estimated cost: $51 - $100
Planning time: 2-5 hours
Frequency: One-time

Learning outcomes

• Create content to demonstrate meaning
• Create original work or responsibly remix existing content to make something new
• Develop social emotional skills (e.g. self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making)
• Engage in personal expression
• Experiment, prototype, and test ideas
• Maintain a positive attitude
• Think flexibly
• Use materials and tools for developmental, educational and recreational needs

Instructions

Objectives:

• Teens were challenged to pick one of four classic artworks and either recreate or reinterpret the piece using the art supplies provided.
• Artworks used for our program:
  1. The Scream, 1983 by Edvard Munch
  2. The Mona Lisa, 1503 by Leonardo da Vinci
  3. The Great Wave off Kanagawa, 1829-1832 by Katsushika Hokusai
  4. The Starry Night, 1889 by Vincent van Gogh

Supplies:

*We planned for 15 teens at this program.

• Acrylic paint (We purchased a selection of different colors in 2 fl. oz. bottles for $.50 each.)
• Books (Used as prizes)
• Cups of water for washing brushes
• Glitter glue
• Markers
• Paintbrushes in varying sizes
• Paper plates (Used as paint palettes)
• Paper towel for clean up during and after
• Pencils and erasers
• Sponge brushes
• Stencils
• Washable tempera paint

Set Up and Instruction:

• This program required minimal setup, though our library staff did divide materials between the two groups of teens established by the youth center staff.
• Each teen was given one canvas and asked to choose one of the four selected artworks to recreate or reinterpret.
• Teens were given 1 hour to work on their artworks.

Judging:

• Three youth services staff judged the final works and decided on a first and second place winner from each group at the end of the program.
• The first and second place winners were able to choose a book to keep.

Evaluation

The teens all did a great job during this program! It was fun and interesting to see how they interpreted the famous artworks and used their own knowledge and art skills to create a new work.

Learning Outcomes:

All the teens that participated created unique pieces of art that expressed themselves. It was great to see so many jump right in, and several wanted to plan out their idea with paper and pencil before creating their final works on the canvas. While some of the teens had grand ideas, because of the set time frame and access to only certain supplies, some teens also had to demonstrate good time management and planning skills to finish on time.

All the teens in this outreach program knew each other and were living together in a youth group home, and as much as they joked with each other, they also encouraged and helped each other, making this a good program for practicing good social skills with their peers. This program also became a good exercise in emotional intelligence for several of the teens that became discouraged when their artwork did not turn out how they envisioned. There were several teens in each group that were encouraging and offered help to these teens.

Improvements and Suggestions:

Overall, this was a very positive, fun, and educational outreach program for the teens.

A simple addition or improvement to this program would be to bring along blank paper for teens to plan out their designs ahead of time. A 10-15 minute window could be allotted for planning time.

Also, if I did this again, I would let the teens either find their own artwork to recreate or reinterpret or bring along more sources of inspiration beyond the four used for this program.