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Explore Educator Resources

SAM has a variety of resources, both at the museum and online, to enrich your learning and teaching.

SAM Blog

Go behind the scenes, hear directly from artists, read interviews, and find art making activities at SAM Blog! Check out our ongoing series Object of the Week to dive deep into artworks in our collection.

SAM Collections

Looking for information about artworks in SAM's collection, including those currently on view? Access art images, overviews from curators, and related media from SAM’s collection online. Learn how​ to use this dynamic resource.

SAM Libraries

Looking for general information on the artists, periods, styles, and cultures represented in SAM's collection? See lists of resources curated by research librarians at SAM Libraries.

Check out our How to Visit SAM video before your guided tour!

South End Stories



SAM's community partner South End Stories is an organization that focuses on Trauma-Informed Arts Practice: Healing Through History and Creativity. This video series, created in partnership with South End Stories and Mr Santos Creations, connects youth and teen viewers to exhibitions at SAM through the responses of their peers and community members.

View Playlist



Eyes on Asia



Eyes on Asia highlights objects at the Seattle Asian Art Museum related to personal connection and identity. Videos focus on close-looking and making art. Show them in a classroom to prepare or follow up on a museum visit, or share with students to watch on their own.

View Playlist



SAM Creates



Art activities for all ages! These videos are a great fit for teaching in a classroom, working with youth across many settings, or just a great way to unwind and make something.

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My Favorite Things



Watch as contemporary artists, creators, and thinkers share their personal thoughts on works from SAM's three locations. Model how students will share on a museum tour, or follow up with close-looking at art in the classroom.

View Playlist

LOOK & MAKE ACTIVITIES

Photo of a table with resources pages sitting on top

These ready-to-use, printable activities focus on individual artworks from the museum and are tailored for specific age groups. Each activity sheet includes looking questions, information about the art, related media, and a making activity using basic materials. Available in English, Spanish, and Chinese.

Animals, Container in the Form of a Bull Bearing a Pot 12th to early 13th century, Iranian or Iraqi (Persian)
Look closely at an eight-hundred-year-old ceramic sculpture from Iran, try out different animal movements, and make your own animal-shaped container.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese  

Seasons, Picnicking Under Cherry Blossoms and Boating on the River by Nishikawa Sukenobu
Examine the details of this 18th century painted Japanese screen, act out the life cycle of a tree, read about springtime explorations, and make your own multimedia artwork inspired by nature.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Shapes, Mondlicht by Alexi Jawlensky
Learn more about Jawlensky’s abstract painting, do shape yoga, listen to a story, and create a portrait from shapes.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades 2-12: Symbols and Stories, Raelene and Galadzi by Francis Dick
Gain inspiration from artist Francis Dick on telling stories and personal histories through artwork. Then, share a story that is important to you in a creative printmaking process.

Download PDF: English

Grades 2-12: Body Language, Walking Man by Alberto Giacometti
Reflect on body language and emotional reactions to different forms of change that you've experienced through art, then connect that response to a sculpture by Alberto Giacometti.

Download PDF: English

Grades K-5: Connecting Place, Shape, and Color, Seattle Cloud Cover by Teresita Fernández
Learn about how artist Teresita Fernández connects with place in her public artwork. Take a nature walk, make observations, and record the shapes and colors that you see in your environment. Use those colors and shapes to create a collage that expresses how you see the place where you are.

Download PDF: English   Spanish   Vietnamese  

Grades K-5: Water All Around Us, First Salmon Ceremony by Ron Hilbert Coy
Learn about First Salmon Ceremonies practiced in Indigenous communities along the Salish Sea, then honor an organism in your watershed's ecosystem using crayon and watercolor resist techniques.

Download PDF: English

Grades K-2: Dance, Trapsprung by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye
Learn more about Lynette Yiadom-Boakye's dynamic painting, move like a dancer, and express your movements in a foil sculpture.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades K-2: Environment, Middle Fork by John Grade
Learn more about Grade’s huge collaborative sculpture, hold a yoga pose, read about trees, and make your own tree sculpture out of a paper bag.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades K-2: Recycled Materials, Takpekpe by El Anatsui
Study El Anatsui’s sculpture made using recycled materials, go on a home scavenger hunt for patterns, read about recycling and art, and design your own work using recycled materials.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades K-5: Nature, A Branch of the Cold Season by Yang Hui
Explore the Yang Hui and Monk Zen painting, go for a walk, listen to stories about nature, and create your own nature-inspired poem and artwork with a friend.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades K-5: Social Emotional Learning, Grandma Ruby's Refrigerator Series: The Notion of Family by Latoya Ruby Frazier
Imagine you're over at Latoya Ruby Frazier's grandmother's house and practice meditating through breathing, moving your body, and drawing.

Download PDF: English

Grades 3-5: Empathy, ChimaTEK: Virtual Chimeric Space by Saya Woolfalk
Immerse yourself in Woolfalk’s multimedia art installation, explore concepts of empathy via videos and graphic novels, and design a prototype for an empathy-spreading invention.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades 3-5: Storytelling, Carpe Fin by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas
Dive into Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas’ Haida manga, explore storytelling through graphic novels, learn about Pacific Northwest Coastal formline design, and create your own comic.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades 4-12 : Portrait of My Life #1: Street Portraits by Dawoud Bey
Developed alongside educator advisor Laura Miller, this lesson encourages students to reflect on the role of photography in their lives and what they would choose to share about themselves in different types of portraits. Students have the option to create an authentic portrait of their life by posing and creating a staged photographic portrait of themselves.

Download PDF: English

Grades 4-12: Portrait of My Life #2: Untitled (Coffeepot) by Carrie Mae Weems
In part two of this SAM Look & Make lesson, students are asked to reflect on the stories that are told through the objects around them. Then, they’ll create an authentic portrait of their life by photographing an object that holds personal memories and conveys something about their identity.

Download PDF: English

Grades 4-12: Portrait of My Life #3: The Kitchen Table Series by Carrie Mae Weems
In part three of this SAM Look & Make lesson inspired by Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems: In Dialogue, students are asked to document a place where they live or where loved ones gather. Then they'll create an authentic portrait of their life by documenting this place, what it looks like, who is there, and the rhythms of life that take place there.

Download PDF: English

Grades 4-12: Portrait of My Life: Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems
In this three-part SAM Look & Make lesson inspired by Dawoud Bey & Carrie Mae Weems: In Dialogue, students learn about different ways that these artists represent people's lives through photography. After completing a series of sketching and reflection prompts, students choose how they want to convey their life and create a photograph of a person, place, or object that tells their story.

Download PDF: English

Grades 6-8: Connections and Contrasts, American Art at SAM
Mount Rainier, Bay of Tacoma-Puget Sound by Sanford Robinson Gifford and Song for the Moon by Shaun Peterson (Qwalsius) depict the same place, but tell different stories. Reflect on the similarities and differences in perspectives represented in SAM’s American Art galleries. Then, share your voice by creating a response to an artwork from the collection.

Download PDF: English

Grades 4-12: Find Your Angle: Photography from Our Blue Planet
Look closely at photographs by artists Johsel Namkung and Aida Muluneh that depict and share a message about the environment. Learn how photographic techniques can express a viewpoint, then share a message about the natural world around you through documentary photography.

Download PDF: English

Animation, Flower Ball, by Takashi Murakami
Be drawn into the depths of Murakami's animated painting, learn about the interplay between art and pop culture, and design your own cartoon character based on an everyday object.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Identity, Some/One, by Do Ho Suh
Examine Suh’s exploration of individual and group identity in his large-scale, intricate sculpture. Think about how personal objects you wear or carry can express your identity, and create your own paper mosaic inspired by a significant object.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Imagination, Bewitched #2 Seoul, by Jung Yeondoo
Spark your imagination with Jung Yeondoo’s photography, consider your own future, and make a collage representing a friend’s dream.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Music, Music, Pink and Blue, No. 1, by Georgia O'Keeffe
Feel the music in O’Keeffe’s abstract painting; learn more about the intersection of music, emotion, and visual art; and create your own experiential sketches inspired by favorite songs.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Grades 6-12: Layers of Meaning: Desecration #2 by John Feodorov
Explore how John Feodorov comments on harm inflicted on Indigenous lands through his mixed-media artwork. Use your power as an artist to inspire positive change. Spread your message about a social or environmental issue by altering an image of a personally meaningful place with drawing and collage materials.

Download PDF: English

Collaboration, Amerocco by Aaron Fowler
Immerse yourself in the details of Aaron Fowler’s collaborative mixed-media installation, take a virtual tour of the piece with former SAM intern Ramzy Lakos, and assemble your own dream team by making a collage.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Place, Seattle Cloud Cover by Teresita Fernández
Immerse yourself in Fernández’s large-scale, site-specific art installation at the Olympic Sculpture Park. Learn more about public art, landscape, and senses of place, and create your own collage based on place, patterns, and colors meaningful to you.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

Social Justice, Breakfast Series by Sonny Assu
Take in Assu’s humorous cereal box redesign meant to draw attention to social justice issues affecting indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Learn about the intersection of political activism, social justice movements and art, and design your own poster to raise awareness of a social issue.

Download PDF: English  Spanish  Chinese

You can find more resources on past and current exhibitions in our Library Catalog. Check back throughout the school year as we add more!

Online Interactives

Smartphone Tours

Tour visitors holding up and looking at their phone in the Native American art galleries

Whether you’re bringing a self-guided group to the museum or exploring on your own, check out our smartphone tours on your mobile device. Hear from guest speakers, learn about historical context, and watch videos connected to the artwork. Please note that this feature works best on your smartphone or tablet.

Learn More

Chinese Painting and Calligraphy

Laptop computer with the Chinese Calligraphy and and Painting website on the screen

This online interactive makes SAM's collection of Chinese painting and caligraphy accessible through an online catalog, which features thoughtful and provocative essays about major works by renowned scholars, with high-resolution, zoom-able images of the works of art, and thorough documentation—including transcriptions and translations of inscriptions and colophons, and seals which are transcribed, identified and located.

Learn More


 You can find more Online Interactives on past and current exhibitions in our Library Catalog list.

OUTREACH SUITCASES

Outreach Suitcases

The Outreach Suitcase program remains on hiatus until further notice.

SAM Outreach Suitcases are collections of objects from diverse cultures, times, and places that students can touch, examine, and discuss. Unpack art in your classroom with these free learning resources.

The ANN P. Wyckoff EDUCATION RESOURCE CENTER (ERC)

Photo of the Educator Resource Center at Seattle Art Museum with a staff person sitting at a desk and many shelve of books and resources behind them

The Education Resource Center is closed until further notice.

The Education Resource Center (ERC) is a launch pad to explore works of art and spark creative learning. The ERC supports inclusive and engaging art experiences through free resources for families, educators, and youth at the museum, in the classroom, and at home.

The Ann P. Wyckoff Education Resource Center (ERC), formerly known as the Teacher Resource Center (TRC), is located at the Seattle Art Museum.

HOURS

Closed until further notice.

DROP BOX HOURS

Until further notice, borrowed materials can be returned ONLY to the ERC drop box (accessible every day from 6 am to 11 pm), located at the parking garage of the Olympic Sculpture Park.


Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM