Art Room Transformation

Welcome to the Art Studio!

by Elizabeth Van Allen

for scribblesbyartteachervanallen.blogspot.com/

My art room is the size of a gym.  I'm certainly not complaining, even with the acoustical drawbacks (I have 2 story high ceilings- great for singing, horrible for talking) I really wouldn't trade it for anything.  Putting together a classroom is no easy feat for any teacher, but I feel that I have a unique challenge at the end of August before school starts each year.  

Your view as you enter the room

Taking such an enormous space and making it feel inviting while taking traffic patterns into account often feels monumental.   Especially since the room has to be left as a blank slate every June!  I may be a little late in the year for this type of post, but hopefully you can get a little inspiration as your own classrooms evolve through the school year.

The View From Our Sinks

Working Area: Before

Working Area: In Progress

Working Area: Finished

 From Above 

A whole new challenge: keeping students off an in-class stairway

From Above: In Progress

From Above: Before

From Above: Finished

The Studio

My biggest challenge: What do you do with a classroom-sized empty space with very little available furniture, and how do you keep it from becoming a race track / impromptu break dancing space?

This big empty space
could be a total nightmare...

High top tables with stools for two
with elementary age students gives me
uninvited premonitions of cracked skulls!

 ...so I moved some flat files and cabinets to break up the space without creating 

line-of-sight issues and added ribbons with clothespins to hang up lost projects! 

The high top tables serve two purposes:  as a quiet work area for older students and as a physical barrier between the carpets and projects drying on the countertops.

The carpet area mimics the area the younger grades have in their regular classrooms.  It's great for introducing book-based projects 

The carpet space is color-coded in the same way as the table rows in the work area.  This way I can keep younger students who have issues with each other apart and transition students to the other side of the room in an orderly fashion without having to remember names off the top of my head! 

 What unique challenges do you face in organizing your teaching or work space?