Visual & Performing Arts · 2nd Grade · Looking Back: Art History and Criticism · Weeks 28-36

Art in Public Spaces

Identifying and appreciating public art (murals, sculptures) and cultural performances in the local neighborhood.

• Common Core State Standards
• NCAS: Connecting VA.Cn10.1.2
• NCAS: Presenting VA.Pr6.1.2

About This Topic

Public art, the murals, sculptures, and cultural performances found in parks, transit stations, and community spaces, is often the art students encounter most frequently outside of school. NCAS standard VA.Cn10.1.2 asks students to connect their learning to the world around them, and public art offers a direct, accessible link between the studio and the street. When students begin looking for art in their own neighborhood, they realize that art is not only in museums and classrooms.

Studying public art teaches students that art has social functions beyond decoration. A mural commemorating a community's history, a sculpture at a school entrance, a mosaic in a subway station, each makes a statement about who lives there, what they value, and what they want to remember. For second graders in diverse US communities, this topic is an opportunity to recognize and honor the cultural contributions embedded in their immediate environment.

Active learning through observation walks, photo documentation, and compare-and-contrast discussions makes this topic concrete and personally relevant. Students who identify public art in their own neighborhood are more motivated to engage with art history and critique because they can connect it to places they already know.

Key Questions

1. Where can you find art in your neighborhood or community outside of school?
2. How does a mural or statue change the way a place looks and feels?
3. What does public art do for the people who live near it?

Learning Objectives

• Identify at least three examples of public art in their local community.
• Compare how a mural or sculpture changes the visual appearance of a public space.
• Explain one way public art can communicate a message or value to its viewers.
• Classify different types of public art, such as murals, sculptures, and monuments.

Before You Start

Elements and Principles of Art

Why: Students need to understand basic art concepts like color, line, and form to analyze and describe public art.

Observing and Describing Art

Why: Students should have practice looking closely at artworks and using descriptive language before analyzing art in a broader context.

Key Vocabulary

mural	A large painting applied directly to a wall or ceiling surface, often found on the exterior of buildings.
sculpture	A three-dimensional work of art made by shaping or combining hard or plastic materials, typically stone, metal, or clay.
public art	Art created to be placed in public locations, accessible to everyone, such as parks, plazas, or on building exteriors.
monument	A statue, building, or other structure erected to commemorate a famous person or event.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

Art only belongs in museums and galleries.

What to Teach Instead

Public art is intentionally placed outside of traditional art spaces to be accessible to everyone in a community. Showing students photographs of murals, sculptures, and installations from their own city or state, alongside museum works, helps them see that the boundary between 'art space' and 'everyday space' is much more permeable than they assume.

Common Misconception

Graffiti and murals are the same thing.

What to Teach Instead

While both appear on walls, commissioned murals are planned by artists working with community input and property owners, while unauthorized graffiti is not. The distinction opens a productive conversation about who gets to make art in public spaces and why community input matters in public art projects.

Active Learning Ideas

Inquiry Circle: Neighborhood Art Hunt

Using printed photographs of public art from around the school neighborhood (taken by the teacher or pulled from a community arts organization website), small groups identify the type of artwork, describe what they see using art vocabulary, and discuss one question: why do they think the artist made this piece for this specific location?

25 min·Small Groups

Think-Pair-Share: Before and After the Art

Show two photographs of the same location: one without a mural or sculpture and one with it. Partners discuss how the space feels different and what specifically changed, naming colors, shapes, or images that shifted the feeling of the place. Share observations with the whole class and build a list of the effects public art can have on a space.

15 min·Pairs

Individual: Design a Mural for Our School

Students sketch a design for an imaginary mural for a specific wall at their school. They must include at least one image that represents something the school community cares about, choose colors that reflect the mood they want the wall to have, and write one sentence explaining their choice.

30 min·Individual

Real-World Connections

• City planners and urban designers commission murals and sculptures to beautify neighborhoods, create landmarks, and foster community pride, like the 'Greetings from [Your City Name]' mural.
• Local historical societies often work with artists to create monuments or commemorative murals that tell the story of significant events or people from their town's past.
• Community arts organizations partner with local artists to design and fund public art projects, such as the sculptures found in downtown parks or along riverwalks.

Assessment Ideas

Exit Ticket

Provide students with a small index card. Ask them to draw one piece of public art they saw on a community walk and write one sentence explaining how it made the place look or feel different.

Discussion Prompt

Show students two images: one of a plain building wall and one of the same wall with a colorful mural. Ask: 'How does the mural change this space? What message do you think the artist wanted to share?'

Quick Check

As students walk around the school grounds or a nearby park, have them point to and name one example of public art they find. Ask them to briefly describe what it is (mural, statue, etc.).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I teach students about public art if we can't leave the school building?

Use photographs taken by you or sourced from local arts organizations, municipal websites, or Google Street View to bring the neighborhood into the classroom. Many city arts commissions publish photo galleries of public art installations. Virtual field trips to well-documented public art collections like the Chicago Public Art Program are another option.

How does studying public art connect to community and social studies standards?

Public art is a record of community identity and history, making it a natural bridge between arts and social studies. Asking students what a mural 'says' about the people who live near it connects art interpretation skills to community history and cultural awareness, reinforcing learning in both subject areas simultaneously.

What is a good starting point for discussing murals with second graders?

Start with the specific rather than the abstract. Show a photograph of a single mural and ask students to describe exactly what they see before asking what they think it means. Beginning with observation grounds the conversation in evidence and prevents students from feeling like there is a 'right' answer they need to guess.

How does active learning work for a topic that involves spaces outside the classroom?

Photograph-based investigations, design challenges, and neighborhood-map activities bring the outside world into the classroom. Active protocols like the before-and-after comparison or the mural design challenge give students concrete tasks that build the same observational and connective skills they would develop on an in-person walking tour.