Make the JSMA part of your classroom!

We invite educators to use the museum and its resources to foster a culture of learning and collaboration in your classroom.

The JSMA is dedicated to serving K-12 communities throughout the state by providing training and educational programs that integrate the arts into the classroom. In support of this commitment, we also offer extensive educational outreach programs.

Experience the Museum

The museum’s collection includes over 18,000 works of art. Through the study of original objects, students can develop visual literacy and aesthetic skills and explore how art evokes emotion, communicates, connects, and inspires. We have rooms for class meetings, and you can even request that selected works be placed on view for curricular needs.

Book a Tour

Schedule a guided tour of the museum for students in grades 2 through 12

Our experienced Exhibition Interpreters will guide your students in small group discussion incorporating accessible interpretation and Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS). Open the door to increased critical thinking practice and art literacy in the lives of your students with a tour at the JSMA! 

Art Studio activities are also available to compliment your tour and support social emotional learning (SEL) standards.

Exhibition Interpreters can visit your class or Zoom Into Your Room

If you teach in the (Lane County) 4J, Springfield, Bethel or South Lane districts, we can arrange for a 20-30 minute in person visit by a JSMA Exhibition Interpreter (EI) to visit your classroom. Your EI will visit and lead a discussion about our latest exhibitions and facilitate a Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) session with your class.

Exhibition Interpreters are also available to Zoom Into Your Room for a 20-30 minute visit to talk about a featured art piece, exhibition or for a Visual Thinking Strategies session.

Chat history ChatGPT ChatGPT Explore GPTs Today Morning Assistance Request Previous 7 Days Punny Pub Trivia Team Names Previous 30 Days Extracting Info from Reddit Photo Editing Capabilities July The Wild Beyond Overview The Wild Beyond Overview Alt Text Best Practices Creating Alt Text Spreadsheet Creating Alt Text Best Practices Mentor and Child Activity 2023 Star Trail Photography Tips Investing in Profitable Companies KFM Protects Cat Women Average American Life Eccentric Mother's Inspiring Legacy Add Team workspace Collaborate on a Team plan ChatGPT 4o User You said: Good morning ChatGPT! ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Good morning! How can I assist you today? You said: Do you remember the best practices for creating Alt text for images on websites? ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Yes, I remember! Here’s a summary of the best practices for creating alt text for images: Be Descriptive and Specific: Describe the content of the image clearly and concisely. Focus on the important details that convey the purpose of the image. Context Matters: Tailor the alt text to the context in which the image is used. Consider why the image is included on the page and what information it is meant to convey. Avoid Redundancy: Do not repeat information that is already included in the surrounding text. Alt text should add value, not duplicate information. Keep It Concise: Aim for 125 characters or fewer. The text should be long enough to be descriptive but not so long that it becomes unwieldy. Use Keywords Thoughtfully: Incorporate relevant keywords if they naturally fit, but avoid keyword stuffing. The primary goal is accessibility, not SEO. Don’t Include “Image of” or “Picture of”: Screen readers already announce images as such, so there’s no need to state it in the alt text. Describe Text in Images: If the image contains text that is important for understanding the content, include that text in the alt text. For Decorative Images: If the image is purely decorative and doesn’t add meaning, you can use an empty alt attribute (alt="") to indicate that the image can be ignored by screen readers. Would you like to go through an example or discuss anything else related to alt text? You said: Uploaded image Uploaded image Uploaded image Uploaded image Great! Please create alt text for these images. ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Alt Text for Images I have created the alt text for the images you provided and compiled them into a spreadsheet. Let me know if you need any further adjustments or if there's anything else you'd like to do! ​​ You said: That's perfect! Can you create alt text for the image at this link as well? https://phpstack-1316005-4851218.cloudwaysapps.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2024-08/2021-33-1_20221005_105417_web.jpg.webp?itok=mpQ5oEzB ChatGPT said: ChatGPT It seems that I'm unable to access the image directly from the provided link. However, if you could describe the image or provide a different link, I’d be happy to create the alt text for it. Alternatively, if you can download the image and upload it here, I can assist you with the alt text directly from the image file. You said: Uploaded image Sure. Here is the image. ChatGPT said: ChatGPT Here’s the alt text for the image you provided: "A colorful, surreal artwork featuring a table with two bags of chips—one labeled 'Fritas' with a portrait of Frida Kahlo, and the other 'Dingus' with a similar design. Several disembodied hands reach out to grab chips, with a large bowl of watermelon slices and salsa in the center. The scene is framed with a faux wood texture and splashes of red, resembling paint or blood, with a banner at the bottom containing text in Spanish." Would you like to include this in your existing spreadsheet or do anything else? You said: Uploaded image Uploaded image Here are two more images I'd like you to create Alt text for. ChatGPT said: ChatGPT It seems there was an error while trying to process the images. Let me correct that and try again. ​​ Combined Alt Text for Images I have created the alt text for the additional images and combined them with the previous entries into a single spreadsheet. Let me know if you need any further assistance or adjustments! ​​ "A traditional Korean painting depicting a serene mountain landscape with deer, cranes, and pine trees, set against a backdrop of vibrant green hills and a bright red sun in the sky." cell Message ChatGPT ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info. ? ChatGPT A traditional Korean painting depicting a serene mountain landscape with deer, cranes, and pine trees, set against a backdrop of vibrant green hills and a bright red sun in the sky.

Collections: Access a World of art and ideas

The museum’s collection includes over 18,000 works of art. Would you like to access artwork not on view? You can arrange for work to be presented in our Gilkey Research Center that will deepen your students’ understanding of course materials or support independent research. Our collections are also accessible online.

Discover the Collection

Shared Visions: Accessing private collections with JSMA

Access the art of internationally recognized artists from around the world from private holdings. Through our Shared Visions program, we are able to bring masterworks to the public for a limited viewing period. Past and present works are accompanied by a Research Guide.

Explore Shared Visions

Our Education Programs

The JSMA’s school programs are made possible with generous support from the Cheryl and Allyn Ford Educational Outreach Endowment, The Coeta and Donald Barker Foundation, and generous support from our members who contribute to our Fill Up the Bus campaign.

Support the Education Fund

Arts Bridge

ArtsBridge at the University of Oregon, part of the ArtsBridge America network, works in partnership with local public schools to provide high-quality arts education to K-12 school children. Stipends are given to those undergraduate and graduate students who teach the arts and lead projects in art, drama, dance, and music.

K-12 teaching opportunities are available for top UO students in the visual and performing arts. UO students (scholars) interested in participating in UO ArtsBridge are asked to complete a scholar application form and mail it to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art.

Are you a teacher interested in having a scholar visit your classroom? Fill out a teacher application.

Questions?  Contact Lisa Abia-Smith, director of education, abia@uoregon.edu

NewArt Northwest Kids

NewArt Northwest Kids is an annual juried exhibition of K-12 student art displayed in the museum's Education Corridor. This exhibition is made possible through support from The Cheryl and Allyn Ford Educational Outreach Endowment.

Details for the upcoming NewArt Northwest Kids exhibition will be announced in October 2025.

Visit our current exhibitions

Discover our current exhibitions and explore the resources created for them (including virtual tours, videos with the artist, gallery guides, and more) which you can use in your class.

View Past Exhibition Resources

K-12 Curriculum Resources

Catalogues & Publications

A number of JSMA exhibitions over the years have Publications or Catalogues associated with them

You can explore these on our Collections site, either by year of exhibition or by the title.

Collections Online

Teaching Resource Guide to Teaching Art

A curriculum resource introducing Visual Thinking Strategies and artists, like Lesley Dill, who integrate the visual and language arts in their work.

Latin America Teacher Resource Guide

This project represents a collaborative effort by faculty and staff at the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies, the Latin American Studies Program, and the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art to address the increasing diversity—in terms of race and ethnicity—of Oregon’s public schools, in order to be able to understand and to incorporate such growing diversity in an enriching way in the classroom.

Teaching Guide to Printmaking

This Teacher's Guide uses A Distinguished Line as a point of departure to create a comprehensive manual for teachers in our state to visit the printmaking collections at The Coos Art Museum. Teachers will find an overview of the history of printmaking processes, as well as image guides and lesson plans that are meant to complement Oregon State Educational Standards.

Japan Curriculum Guide

This kit is intended to provide you and your students with an opportunity to learn about Japanese art through multiple disciplines and to teach several subjects using Japanese art as a didactic tool.

Chinese Cultural Revolution Guide

Included in this packet are a variety of lesson plans and resources that approach learning from different angles. Through these lesson plans, we hope to cover a multitude of learning and teaching styles to maximize the creative learning potential of both students and teachers.

Chinese Curriculum Guide

This outreach kit is intended to provide you and your students with an opportunity to learn about Chinese art through multiple disciplines and to teach several subjects using Chinese art as a didactic tool.

Korea Curriculum Guide

These resources include a Teacher Resource Guide and a Curricular unit about Korea. They have recently been updated.

Ralph Steadman: A Retrospective

"I get my best ideas in a thunderstorm. I have the power and majesty of nature on my side." - Ralph Steadman

Carrie Mae Weeems: The Usual Suspects

Weems addresses the constructed nature of racial identity— specifically, representations that associate black bodies with criminality and the resultant killings of black men, women, and children without consequence.

Xiaoze Xie: Amplified Moments

A curriculum unit inspired by the work of Xiaoze Xie, a contemporary Chinese painter, that explores how artists see and comment on historic and current events through the visual arts.

Contact Us

Sherri Jones

jsmatour@uoregon.edu