Secondary students can work together to create a large, colorful mural on school grounds or in an approved public area. Mural projects take a lot of time, negotiation and team work, which is a benefit for students who want to enter the art world. For example, as a team, students can choose the subject or theme for the mural, such as a tropical garden, individual small portraits, a rural landscape or an abstract image. Students would then need to work with city officials to figure out when, where and for what cost they can paint a public building wall. A mural art project is especially rewarding because it is more or less permanent. Students can also photograph the work and use it for college applications.
Masks make interesting high school projects because they allow students to get creative with 3D crafts. The class could first study the symbolic importance of masks in ancient and modern societies, from wooden, African tribal masks in the Paleolithic period to Native American masks carved from gourds. For a papier mache or plaster mask, the student lays soggy newspaper or gauze then plaster-of-Paris across a friend's face to make the mold. After the mold dries, the student can decorate the mask with paint, pen-and-ink line drawings or mixed-media, such as cloth or recycled materials.
Coming up with a product and its accompanying package design is an ideal way for secondary students to try their hand at art in the business world. The student comes up with an idea for a small product to market, for example, a new diet soda that tastes like chocolate called "Choco-lite." The student then comes up with a package design that entices buyers to choose the beverage out of the grocery store lineup, such as a dark brown can with thin white writing that reflects a thick, chocolate flavor experience but a slimming effect. If more than one student creates a similar product type, such a soft drink, they can get peer reviews and a healthy dose of competition.
Another artistic project for secondary students is mimicking a particular artist's style. For example, students could mimic the techniques of George Seurat's pointillism, Picasso's portraiture, Van Gogh's color yellow, Goya's frightening creatures or Roy Lichtenstein's comic book paintings. This project exposes students to different art techniques. Mimicking a style also challenges them to concentrate on trying a method they would not normally choose, such as detailed work in pointillism when the student may be more familiar with Pollack-style painting. Ideally, students work in different mediums -- such as sculpture, painting, line art, installation and so on, but choosing one medium is also fine, as long as each student challenges his traditional methods.