It is only with the heart that one can see…what is essential is invisible to the eye.
– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
In this lesson, students will learn about a specific tool they can use to express, process, and reflect on their emotions: creating art. Making artwork lowers our stress levels, helps us feel more in tune with our emotions, and allows us to express feelings that can be hard to put into words. Art can be used to help you express difficult emotions, but it can also help you reflect on positive emotions like joy or gratitude. This lesson will teach students how art can be used to support well-being, describe the scientific benefits of artistic expression, and lead students in making expressive artworks of their own. No artistic talent is required to create art in this way – the focus is on intuitively expressing what you feel, not making a perfect final product.
· Recognize that art can be a useful tool for expressing, processing, and reflecting on emotions.
Prior to teaching this lesson, watch the guest artist and featured videos. Also, create your own artwork to share with your students.
Gather paper, colored pencils, crayons, or markers for the creative activity. If art supplies are unavailable, the activity works equally well with any writing utensil. If you would prefer a digital option, Kleki.com offers fast access to a digital drawing tool.
Emily Balsley describes the way drawing supported her when she felt overwhelmed.
Peyton describes the pressures to fit a certain beauty standard in high school. She shares the way her drawing helped her process these feelings and realize that she wants to resist these pressures.
Milja describes the way drawing and writing helps her with issues like self-harm, PTSD, OCD and with the process of returning to school during the pandemic.
Display the ‘welcome slide’ from the Lesson 6 PowerPoint as you begin.
*Slide 1
As discussed in the teacher training, remember to make the suggested language below authentic to yourself and meaningful for your students.
* Slide 2
Example of What You Could Say:
“Today’s lesson is all about art. Art is a great outlet for expressing emotions and supporting well-being. You can use it to express a wide range of feelings, including difficult emotions and positive ones. There are many different modes of artistic expression, like drawing, painting, collage, and more. If one medium doesn’t work for you, don’t worry, because there are so many others to choose from. Art can be used to support well-being in several different ways.”
(If you would like to explore other artistic modalities with your students, see the supplemental information section below.)
“Let’s watch a video from an artist who tells us about a time when she used art as an emotional outlet.”
Before you play the video(s), remember to give students a description of the video content. The video descriptions are listed above each video.
*If you have time, play any additional guest artist video that you think would resonate with your students.
Example of What You Could Say:
“There’s actually a lot of research supporting the fact that art is a healthy outlet for emotional expression. It’s been proven to lower our stress levels and help us feel in tune with our emotions. It reduces over-thinking and improves mindfulness – in fact, it’s so effective that there’s an entire branch of therapy called art therapy that uses art to improve mental health.
Art taps into emotions that are difficult to put into words. It can help us process our emotions, accept what we’re feeling, sit with it, and allow it to move through us. Art can also help us reflect on our emotions, helping us to gain a greater understanding of ourselves.”
* Slide 3
Example of What You Could Say:
“In today’s activity, we’re going to practice using art as an expressive outlet. You can draw whatever’s on your mind today. I encourage you to draw intuitively, which means to draw how you feel without worrying about the end result. For example, if you feel angry, you could use jagged marks, or if you feel calm, you could use loose, flowing lines.
Don’t worry – you don’t need any artistic talent to do this activity. The focus is on the process of creating the artwork, not the final product.
Before this lesson, I created my own piece of art… (Share your artwork, the feelings that inspired it, and how it felt to make it.) Let’s take 15 minutes to make a drawing that reflects how you are feeling today. Feel free to add words or a few sentences to your drawing that help to express how you’re feeling.” (Allow students to complete the creative activity.)
Example of What You Could Say:
“Great job making these beautiful drawings, everyone! Does anyone want to share their artwork or what inspired it? How did it feel when you were making this project?
(Allow students to share.)
Thank you for sharing. Remember, you can use art to express any type of emotion, and I hope that you feel inspired to continue using art as a creative outlet.”
Example of What You Could Say:
“If this activity brought up some difficult emotions, there is always additional support and resources available. (Share any school or community resources that may be available.) There are also resources available through the Kevin Love Fund website. We can end with a grounding activity that can help us to feel centered as we continue throughout our day.”
If you or your students would like to learn more about the ideas in this lesson, additional resources and third party links are included below.