About the Program

Artists in Process is a biennial program designed for teachers to support high school students’ exploration of the artistic process. The program includes guided access to NCMA resources, online forums for discussion, and a museum visit. Students will learn about artists from the NCMA collection and consider how these artists develop, document, and refine their ideas into a body of work. Teachers will be provided support to help facilitate students’ discovery of their own line of inquiry, experimentation, risk-taking, and exploration of their ideas instead of following a prescribed path. A new theme will be explored each year. Students will have the option to submit works created through the program to the museum’s high school art exhibition.

Program Details:

Runs September 2026 – March 2027

Full details: Check out our FAQ

Essential Questions for the program:

• How do artists arrive at their final work? 

• What is the process an artist goes through to develop, document, and refine their ideas? 

• How do artists translate these ideas into a work of art or a body of work?

How do I get involved?

• Teachers will need to register for the program in order to participate.

• Students can only submit work to the exhibition if their teacher is registered.

• Sign up to receive access to all the resources you will need to run the program in your school.

• Artists in Process Resources will be available July 1, 2026

• Registration will end once capacity is met.

2026-27 Theme: Perspectives on Place

Students will develop a sustained investigation into personal, cultural, or conceptual interpretations of place.

The concept of place in contemporary art explores how environments shape identity, memory, and experience. Artists investigate place as more than a physical location. A place can be a city, landscape, home, or symbolic site connected to important events or collective identity. Through visual art, they explore how environments carry meaning shaped by culture, memory, identity, and social experience.