Art Teachers' Fresh Takes on Still Life Projects

The term “still life” refers to a work of art that depicts inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world. When we discuss still life, we typically think of vases, fruit, baskets, and similar objects. Middle and high school students often find still-life drawing and painting to be boring for various reasons. These traditional subjects lack relevance, assignments focus on skill and technique over expression, and there is a lack of creative autonomy.

Teachers aren’t always excited about still-life drawing and painting either. Still lifes require a fair amount of prep on the teacher’s part. Finding all the objects, considering the space requirements, and arranging them all takes time. If you float from room to room or have a small space, the obstacles may seem insurmountable. Additionally, you must guard the still life because some students seem unable to resist touching the still life items.

On that topic, here are some good teacher tips when working on a still life project. Mark the location of each object with a small piece of tape. Repositionable glue dots are another excellent option for temporarily securing items without damaging the object or surface. Place a “Do Not Touch” or “Still Life in Progress” sign near the display. If draping fabric against a wall or backdrop, use pins or clamps to hold it firmly in place. Putty can be another great tool to help secure an object or keep it from rolling. Having students photograph their view of the still life is also another must. Guaranteed, no matter how long you leave it up, some student will not have finished their still life.

Now, to get back to how to make still life drawings more exciting and engaging for our students and teachers, here are some ideas from art teachers near and far.

1. Vanitas and Memento Mori still lifes can be appealing to teens. A vanitas still-life features various symbolic objects intended to remind the viewer of their mortality and the worthlessness of worldly goods and pleasures. “Memento mori” is a Latin phrase that translates to “remember you will die” or “remember death.” It’s a philosophical and spiritual concept used to remind people of their mortality, encouraging them to live a more meaningful, purposeful, and grateful life by focusing on what truly matters. With either Vanitas or Memento Mori, you can delve into symbolism, and it’s also well-timed at this point in the year, with Halloween approaching. Vanitas often features skulls, as they are symbols of mortality and the transience of life. Check with your science department to see if they have any skulls or skeletons to loan out. Or buy your own skull or skeleton. Below is art teacher Rhea Anne Belt Wyatt’s vanitas still-life setup and bulletin board of student work. Another excellent resource for symbolic still lifes, created by art teacher Laura Johnson, can be found here.

2. Art teacher Mrs Moen from @artofteaching does these mini still lifes. Her project remind me of my own trompe trompe l’oeil self-portraits, which you can find here.

3. Art Teacher Christi Lee Ziebarth shares her super-simple, budget-friendly project, shown below. She writes, “I pump up how big a challenge this is for the brain and eye connection. A simple striped lined graphic on one side of the paper and a simple optical illusion on the other side, and print them two-sided. Let students crumple them up by choice. Then they draw. It’s a variation on the draped fabric that we’ve all done.”

Ziebarth uses clip-on lights powered by the students’ Chromebooks, such as these, and boxes like these, which she lines with black paper for a backdrop behind the crumpled paper.

4. Art Teacher Hannah Blowes thrifts many of her best still life items. She writes, “I always hunt around in charity shops for some amazing objects for my students to draw- I’ve found skulls work really well, old gaming consoles, and had a brilliant lesson where a bunch of year 9s (13 year olds) couldn’t work out how to use an old school circular dial telephone!!” I’ve personally used old antique cameras, another vintage item our students of today might not recognize.

5. Art Teacher Melissa Bellevue agrees that her students groan when they hear “still life”. But, she finds a junk drawer, messy fridge, closet, pantry, or junk drawer that her students find intriguing. A good reference for this subject matter is the book, The Creative License by Danny Gregory.

6. Fall Still lifes is another popular and timely asignment art educators gravitate to. I’ve loved this My Art Lesson lesson plan donated by Elizabeth Saitta.

7. Paper still lifes. Check out this origami still life lesson contributed by Shawn Milne Duckworth.

No room? Think of mini still lifes like shelves. I created this lesson for an introductory lesson where students glued shells onto a card (cut from scrap mat board) in an arrangement that required overlap and varied pattern and texture. All the classes’ still lifes fit into one tote. I’ve seen similar ones on Pinterest, using different-shaped pasta as well as various screws, nuts, and bolts.

Toys! Art Teacher Le Chan Nhu created these Pen and ink drawings with her 8th-grade art students. She asked them to bring in their toys and objects, and she provided some of her own as well. The students then learned how to set up lighting and objects to take reference photos for their still life.

10. Let students pick a theme. This is my students who picked fashion.

11. While bowls of fruit may not excite teens, food can be a great topic for a still life. These food collages are from middle school art teacher Amanda Novocin Bee.