High School Art Projects: Arts and Crafts Ideas and Inspiration for High Schoolers
“Art is a way of survival,” according to Japanese artist Yoko Ono. In a world that often seems so bland and gray, it’s refreshing to see a pop of color and beauty once in a while. That is where the artist comes in. Whether you’re a toddler, a high schooler, or a middle-aged man, making art is a wonderful expression of individuality and creativity that can even boost your mental health and intelligence!
However, sometimes it can feel daunting to get started. After all, creating something out of nothing is no easy task. So to help you out, here is a list of ideas for you to get started on your high school art projects!
Why Should High Schoolers Make Art Projects?
But first, why should high schoolers bother making time in their busy schedules for art projects at all? Well, it turns out that creating art projects can have numerous positive effects, including:
Expressing yourself
The first is that art projects are a great way to express yourself. You can use art as a medium to explore your personality, identity, individuality, and other aspects of yourself that you didn’t know before.
Cultivating your creativity
Making art is a way of practicing your creative skills, and expanding your imagination so to speak. This can help you in all aspects of life, from creating one-of-a-kind school assignments, to even elevating your problem-solving abilities in your future career.
Relieving stress and anxiety
According to research, creating art is a great way to relieve stress, and even anxiety and depression. While the pressure of performing well in high school may be crippling, making art projects can be a productive outlet to help you deal with those emotions.
Repurposing materials
Sometimes, we want to keep things that we are emotionally attached to despite the fact that they have lost their use. Have old T-shirts that don’t fit you anymore but still have sentimental value? Make it into a quilt or a few stuffed toys! Have old magazines and newspapers that you don’t know what to do with? Make it into a collage! These are just a few ideas of ways you could keep things that matter to you without it collecting dust in a cardboard box in your attic.
Hanging out with friends
Have you ever wanted an excuse to hang out with your friends? Making art projects is the perfect reason to collaborate, form deeper bonds, and give yourselves something to do while you talk about life.
Decorating your living space or school
Why settle for a drab bedroom, classroom, or school, when you can decorate it with eye-catching art? Art projects are a great way to spice up your life, mentally and physically!
6 Quick Art Projects for High Schoolers
Clearly, there are countless benefits of creative art. So, what art projects can high schoolers make? Here are some quick ideas that are perfect for winding down after a long day to get you started:
Doodle on blank paper or in a notebook
Make origami according to tutorials online
Grab a palette, brushes, and paper, and make a watercolor painting
With colored pencils, markers, or ink, make word art by decorating your name or any other word with fancy fonts, embellishes, and borders
Use a website, app, or even AI to make generative art
Go on a walk and take photos of what you see
Longer Art Projects High Schoolers Can Create on Their Own, or with Friends and Family
What about longer projects that take more than 5 minutes? Longer art projects are a great way to keep high schoolers engaged and continuously flexing their creative muscles. In addition, the long-term commitment can help you stick to a routine, making art a part of your daily lifestyle. Here are some great ideas for longer art projects:
Keep a scrapbook of the important (or unimportant) moments of your life: keep post-it notes, photos, tickets, and other assorted items from your day and week, and add it to your scrapbook regularly.
Press flowers: flattening flowers under heavy books is a nostalgic spring activity from everyone’s childhoods, but there’s no reason why teens can’t include real flowers in their arts and crafts again, with the added bonus of going out and being in nature!
Create a self portrait: experiment with different media, such as paint, charcoal, or pencil, to create a portrait of yourself.
Design and create a sculpture using materials like clay, wire, cardboard, or even better: found objects and recycled materials.
Paint a mural on a designated wall in the school or local community. Just make sure to ask for permission beforehand!
Mixed media collage: using newspaper clippings, magazines, school assignments, and anything else you can find, create a collage that explores a particular theme or topic that’s personal and thought-provoking.
Construct a diorama: did you know that art actually helps you memorize things better? Consider constructing a diorama out of paper, clay, or other materials, to illustrate a concept for science or history class. In addition to being a fun art project, this can also help high schoolers study for an upcoming test!
Draw: when in doubt, you can always return to the classic—drawing. Draw a still-life composition that explores light and shadow. Draw a landscape or scene that you see everyday. Draw a pet or someone you love. Alternatively, draw whatever makes you happy!
Create a costume: this is a fun one to do with your friends. Once you’ve created costumes for everyone, you can put on a theatrical production or a dance performance.
Shadow puppets: with a blanket, a flashlight, and a few cardboard cutouts, you can put on a shadow puppet show to entertain younger cousins or siblings. It’s more challenging than it looks to convey the shape of an object using only silhouettes, but a shadow puppet show always guarantees a good time.
Stop motion: using apps like iMotion or Stop Motion Studio, you can easily create stop motion animations by taking photos of drawings, clay, or other materials. This might be a bit time-consuming, but the result always looks awesome.
Graphic novel: for high schoolers who are more story-oriented, creating a graphic novel is a great option to express yourself. You could explore personal experiences or social issues (as with Power On! by Jean J. Ryoo and Jane Margolis) or you could go the route of slice-of-life comedy, or anything in-between!
Personalize your notebooks and stationery with stickers, drawings, or collages: what better way to spend your time than to make art that you can bring with you to school? Give personality to your school supplies that will make them stand out from the crowd.
How to Get Started on High School Art Projects
If you’re still feeling uninspired, you can browse the internet for more ideas by looking at art projects that other teens have done. But ultimately, the best way to get started is to pick up a pen, marker, paper, or whatever art supply you’d like to use, and let your creativity run free.
Remember, you are making the art project only for yourself. There are no rules except to create what feels right for you. The sky’s the limit!
About Inspirit AI
AI Scholars Live Online is a 10 session (25-hour) program that exposes high school students to fundamental AI concepts and guides them to build a socially impactful project. Taught by our team of graduate students from Stanford, MIT, and more, students receive a personalized learning experience in small groups with a student-teacher ratio of 5:1.
