A large group of secondary students sits at tables in the Museum classroom while sculpting with clay.

K-12 School and Teacher Programs

K-12 Resources

UMFA School and Teacher Programs bring hands-on arts experiences to schools across the state of Utah. From experiential field trips, interactive presentations in schools, teacher professional development, and classroom resources, we offer a variety of opportunities to illuminate art and creativity through classroom learning.

Educator Resources

A young child sits on the floor of a gallery while looking through a small telescope at a tapestry hanging on the wall. There's a backpack with contents strewn about next to her.
Educator Newsletter
A teacher stands near students drawing at their desks in a classroom. A photo of a mountain is projected on a screen behind her, and colorful educational posters decorate the wall.
Story Cards
A painting of a hotdog as a bridge between two cliffs under a rainbow and cloud-filled sky.
Classroom Posters

Featured Lesson Plan


Learn about the Asian tradition of Moon Viewing and be inspired by art depicting the moon.

An impressionist style painting of a night sky reflected over a body of water.

Art Breaks

Take a five-minute break, explore a work of art, and be inspired to make art of your own. Learn about these seven elements of art with artworks in the UMFA’s collection!

For this 5-minute Art Break, we explore the element of art, texture, by looking at French artist Alfred-Arthur Brunel de Neuville’s Anxious Moments. 

A painting of a group of four kittens with different fur colors and patterns. One is standing on a plate and eating a piece of meat off a bone. There's another kitten in a basket and a bowl of milk in the background.

Watch this video to learn about line, an important element of art, by looking at a work from 1720 by Italian artist Giovanni-Battista Piranesi.

A line-work sketch of archways, stairs, people and smoke.

Explore the art element “color” by looking at Francois Ykens’ oil painting from 1644 entitled, Flower Still Life.

A still life painting of a floral arrangement.

Using Zion Quilt by Jen Shurtliff, jump into an exploration of shape, a fundamental element of art.

An abstract, geometric artwork that looks like mountains and valleys with pink, red, blue and white colors.

In this Art Break, learn about the use of positive and negative space with Maria Martinez and Popovi Da’s Serpent Plate.

A black and gray plate with a large serpent design along the rim.

In this video, look closely at the forms in a Sowei Helmet Mask to learn and discover a new appreciation for this element of art and artwork. 

A traditional helmet mask featuring a small carved bird on the top.

Meridith Pingree’s cyanotype provides a unique opportunity to learn about value, an essential element of art.

An abstract artwork featuring a blue background and white negative space in a thin cross on the left corner and multiple circles on the left side.

Professional Development

Come excited to learn with fellow teachers and leave with fresh ideas and inspiration
—we all learn better by learning together.

UMFA educators and guest instructors provide tools and strategies for integrating art and cultural objects into all classroom learning.

Our professional development events are interactive, hands-on, and art-making intensive. These networking opportunities include open houses, Evening for Educators, and curriculum-based workshops. Relicensure points are available at most events.

A group of women sits at a table, each has a plastic cup filled with dirt and some have their hands in their cup.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

Logo for the University of Utah.
Beverly Taylor Sorenson Foundation logo
POPS logo

S.J. & Jessie E. Quinney Foundation

Kathie Zumbro

With generous In-Kind support from the UMFA Docents

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