List of Artists to Engage Boys in the Art Classroom
A question for you: How are you going to engage boys in art?
How do you engage boys in art? Research shows that boys engage with art if you use the following themes and ways of working. They are switched off by a limited diet of drawing, painting and writing about artists and engage with a broader curriculum. Design, sculpture, sporting artists, graffiti and risk-taking can all engage boys. Art teachers around the globe have found success with the following artists. Of course, this isn’t a solution – just a little piece of the jigsaw puzzle! Each image is hyperlinked to a website or google search.
Design
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- Tinker Hatfield
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- Kate Moross
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- Peter Blake
Sculpture
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- Art Cars – just google it!
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- Terry Peterson
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- Steampunk
Sport
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- Ernie Barnes
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- Joe Morse
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- Bill Hall
Graffiti
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- Shepard Fairey
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- Banksy
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- Basquiat
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- Jon Burgerman
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- Keith Haring
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- ROA
Unusual Method or Media
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- Julian Beever
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- Gustavo Fuentes
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- Nick Gentry
Thank you to all the art teachers that have me collect together these artists. The artists below were also mentioned for engaging boys in art:
Michael Landy, Urs Fischer, Rudolf Stingel, Rachel Whitehead, Peter Doig, Kemang Wa Lehulere, Robin Rohde, Damien Hirst, Andy Goldsworthy, Caravaggio (for his delightful murderous ways) Terry Crews, Kehinde Wiley, Paul Bracq, Dali, Picasso, Game Designers, Jason Heuser, Jamie Hewlett (Tank Girls and Gorillaz) Ai Weiwei, Supreme, Huge (graffiti), Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright, Escher, Frazetta, Yves Klein, Conrad Jones, Richard Estes, Ralph Goings, Takashi Murakami, Vanessa Beecroft, Nick Cave, Justin Bua, Frank Morrison, Alvin Burts, Marianne Brandt.
A huge amount of art teachers have visited this blog post about how to engage boys in art. It’s a huge issue! If you have any ideas to share, please comment below.
Also, here are some resources that art teachers have told me are popular with boys.
This is so helpful!
I’ve found that giving boys options of media and material, especially in middle school when their bodies are changing and they loose their fine motor skills for a while, is really helpful. For example print making with styrofoam sheets and pencils instead of lino cutting was great for some. They could still print without the struggle to carve. Giving them choices of subject matter so they could include references to video games or sports that they are passionate about also helps to engage them.
Thanks again for the list!
This is great advice. I have a list of artists that includes sport artists here: https://theartyteacher.com/artists-themes/
I teach G1 – 4 and boys are the most creative and engaged students, the girls are just compliant. Particularly my G4 (there are only three girls in that class) is great, they ask questions, discuss art and participate in all activities, even if it’s fashion design. They love dinosaurs, superheroes, mythology or Minecraft and I tap into that.
I’m pleased to hear you are finding success with boys! That’s great!
This is a brilliant list of artists. I have used some of them with students already. Thank you.
I’m glad you found it useful!