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All Ages: Composing

by Debra ShushanJanuary 21, 2026 1:01:47 total runtime

How do artists compose their work?

Painter Elizabeth Murray talks about painting like a safe breaker cracks a safe. The thief listens, tunes in to something unseen, and waits until they hear an actual click. Metaphorical “safe breaking,” it turns out, is an engaging way to have my fourteen- to eighteen-year-old high school students think about the various ways that artists compose their work and how assistants, family, and community members sometimes play a role.

I use this all-ages playlist as a starting point for students to consider how they want to make and compose their own artwork. The students in my classes have typically not had much art experience prior to high school. Sharing these artists who may look like and have similar lived experiences to my students helps them begin to think about themselves as artists; identify some of what influences how they see the world; consider the various ways that they might choose images, symbols, and color; and decide how to begin putting it all together into something that clicks for them.

Whether students riff on symbols from their own cultures (Dyani White Hawk), push on canvas to feel where the tension is (Marela Zacarías), or relinquish image selection to an algorithm to avoid choosing just one (Ho Tzu Nyen), my students benefit from seeing how artists compose their work. Encountering these varied approaches helps students understand that making art is not just about skill, but about listening, experimenting, and staying with the process until something opens.

All Ages is a series of playlists featuring films that have been thoroughly screened for questionable content, such as nudity, cursing, or violence. These playlists are grouped by a teaching strategy, theme, or particular audience.