Art classroom decor is something I still remember from my days as a student in art classes. I can still recall the posters and visual aids that excited me or helped me retain knowledge about the subject being taught. For that reason, I think it is essential to have posters in your classroom that are eye catching, visually easy to read, and purposeful. These are my top 5 essential poster sets or visual aids for my art classroom and how I created them.

Elements of Art and Principles of Design Posters

I cannot teach an art lesson without mentioning at least one Element of Art or Principle of Design. The Elements of Art are the building blocks of art and are very important for students to know and understand.

For this reason, I created a set of posters that illustrate both the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. I used a stock photography website and found images I thought illustrated each of these concepts. Next, I used a bold font that would be easy to read from a distance. Lastly, I included a short definition of each of these terms. My students can read the definition and apply it to the images while explaining how it is applicable. I created my posters so they could be printed on a standard color printer and fit my smaller bulletin board. Click here for more information or to purchase my Elements and Principles posters.

Art History Timeline

I always have an art history timeline in my room because I feel it important to expose students to a variety of art styles, genres and artists. It has changed over the years, in fact it keeps growing! It is a great visual for students to see how art has evolved and changed over the centuries.

I chose 34 art periods I thought were most common. Everything from Prehistoric, Ancient Egypt, Renaissance, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism to Contemporary Art. I sized the posters to be  5.375″ tall and 10.25″ wide so they can be printed on a color printer on letter size paper, trimmed, and laminated. Once the size, time period and fonts were determined, I added a the duration of the time period and an image of an artwork that would fit in each time period. I found many images on Google using the creative common license and others using stock photography websites. Click here for more information or to purchase my Art History Timeline posters.

Color Schemes Posters

I love to paint and create colorful artworks with my students so I think it is important for students to understand they can control the outcome of the piece and how using a harmonious color scheme can improve a work of art. I will often add a color scheme requirement to the objectives of a lesson to remind students this is a decision artists make when creating artwork. The color schemes I teach my students include: primary, secondary, cool, warm, neutral, complimentary, tertiary, monochromatic, and analogous colors.

Once I decided on a list of color schemes, I found a font that would be bold and easy to read from a distance. To create a consistent look for the posters, I found another stock photography image that relates to painting. I chose a paint can pouring paint and changed the color for each color scheme poster. Always thinking about literacy, I included the name of each color in the center of the color. Click here for more information or to purchase my Color Scheme posters.

Art Careers

As a teacher preparing my students for the future, I think it is important to teach students about possible art related careers. I have a variety of art lessons that make a connection to art careers, as well as, games and scavenger hunts to broaden the horizons of my students. So my last set of posters I created for my classroom features art related careers.

Obviously there are so many art related careers, so I decided to narrow my list to 14 of the more common art related careers. After choosing the careers, I created a brief description for each career and specific job opportunities within each of those careers. Next I used the stock photography website to find images that would be applicable for each career and would create a nice visual for my students. I added color to each poster to create a rainbow of opportunities. I love the way these colorful posters look in my classroom and the knowledge they provide my students. Click here for more information or to purchase my Art Career posters.

Color Wheel 

The color wheel is an essential tool when teaching painting, color theory or color schemes. I reference my color wheel at least one or twice per week! The color wheel is a great visual to see how the secondary and tertiary colors are mixed and created.

When creating my color wheel I wanted it to look like a palette. I created 3 different paint splatters to indicate the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. I also included small diagrams of the primary, secondary and intermediate colors so students can quickly see the colors and the pattern that is created on the color wheel. Lastly, I scaled the file to fit 3 different printing sizes. I created a 24”x 36” poster to hang in my classroom, that is easy to read from across the room. I also created an 11”x 17” poster that I can move around more easily and a 8.5”x 11” poster that I print and laminate if I want to provide one for each table group.

I also have a discounted bundle of all of these art classroom posters available here.

A note about the software used: I used Adobe InDesign to create these posters which is software I learned how to use when I taught a graphic design course years ago. It is not the easiest software to use and it costs money. More user-friendly options that you probably already have include Powerpoint or you can try an online design platform like Canva.

Happy decorating! – Trista

If you liked this art classroom decor post, please subscribe by clicking here.

Check out my How To Page for more posts like this.