For many students, open-ended tasks like creating art can feel intimidating–there’s no clear right or wrong way to do it. So at Marin Horizon, art teacher Kathy Piscioneri has designed a program and studio space that fosters not only skill-building but also cultivates the mindsets of an artist and a lifelong learner. Developing a growth mindset in this way not only boosts creativity but also gives students the confidence to take risks in all areas of learning.
Two key components of Kathy’s program are autonomy and choice.
“I had never seen Middle School students who were this engaged with art projects until I started giving them a lot more latitude,” says Marin Horizon art teacher Kathy Piscioneri. “They have almost 100% choice in what they make.”
According to Kathy, it’s all part of a learning philosophy called Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB), with the goal of getting kids to become as autonomous as possible about their artwork - to think like an artist, and to have the agency to decide what they want to make, and how to create it. The TAB philosophy states that the child is the artist and the classroom is the artist’s studio.
Inside the Artists Studio: A Diverse Array of Projects
What you won’t find in Kathy’s classroom is a factory-like approach to creating art. Students are pursuing projects as individuals or in groups, and in media from watercolor and charcoal to clay and cardboard. Having choice and agency is the appeal for many students.
Eighth grader Riley is bringing history to life by creating a two-story museum fueled by her imagination. She explains that it will include a mix of past events and current moments. So far, she’s sculpted miniatures of a volcano and an astronaut landing on the moon using air-dried clay. She’s also working on creating San Francisco’s iconic “painted ladies” houses, and playing with the idea of adding artwork to the second floor.
“When I came to this class and realized I could create something beyond just drawings and paintings, I thought, ‘That’s fun,’” Riley shared.
Wandering around the studio, I visited seventh grader Leo who is creating a boat sculpture, and eighth grader Harris who is creating a catapult. Cardboard is a popular medium, and Kathy shares that students are really pushing the limits of what’s possible with projects like a very complex sculpture of a scorpion and a fantastical city built within the body of a whale.
In contrast to cardboard, seventh grader Rachel discusses below her artworks inspired by vintage Asian watercolor paintings.
Seventh grader Scarlett has been practicing watercolor at home and is bringing her passion into the classroom. She’s learning from Kathy how to experiment with layering watercolors and adding salt to create a star-like effect. Scarlett is also teaching/helping her classmate Leila who is just getting started with watercolor.
Says Scarlett, “There isn’t really an end product, I just really enjoy the process.”
From foundational techniques to autonomous, confident artists
Kathy Piscioneri has been teaching at Marin Horizon for seven years. She is also a practicing artist who participates in shows around the Bay Area. She shared with us her overview of the path students take in their visual arts education from their earliest days at Marin Horizon.
As students grow and develop, their artistic skills evolve in exciting ways. In Grades 1–3, children dive into foundational techniques like color mixing and exploring the color wheel, starting with primary colors to create an infinite array of hues. They use their artwork to tell stories inspired by their lives and their imaginations, with creativity coming from within.
By third grade, students take on more complex projects, like creating mixed-media representations of their favorite places. Over a six-week period, they add layer after layer of materials, adding depth and meaning to their work. They are challenged to tell a story that their viewers can engage with..
As students continue to grow, so does their autonomy and confidence. By the time they reach Middle School, those who choose visual art as an elective in Grades 6–8 experience nearly total creative freedom. Meeting twice a week, they decide what to create, with guidance and occasional vetoes from Piscioneri to ensure their projects are both appropriate and challenging.
She encourages them to step outside their comfort zones—whether it’s trying new techniques, tackling projects independently, or exploring underdeveloped skills. This approach fosters self-motivation, as students take ownership of their artistic process. They come to class ready to dive into their projects, setting up their materials and working much like professional artists in a studio.
Thinking Like a Studio Artist: “Studio Habits of Mind”
Up on the wall Piscioneri has posted a set of guiding principles: Studio Habits of Mind, related closely to the concept of a growth mindset. These habits focus not only on skill development but also on cultivating the ways artists think and approach their work. By emphasizing the creative thought process, students build autonomy as artists, equipping them with transferable skills and expanded ways of thinking that can enrich their lives—whether or not they pursue art in the future.
Says Kathy, “These are the ways that we think as artists. Ways of thinking that encourage our minds to be flexible, and to think on our feet. To adapt and change, to edit. Right from the get-go, they’re thinking like a studio artist and making the same choices that a studio artist has to make.”
Kathy says, “I love seeing kids who thought they didn’t like or weren’t good at art soar in this choice based program. Suddenly you see their imaginations open up and they are able to let go of the focus on what other people think which can be such a hurdle for middle school students.”