What does an art instructor do?
An art instructor is responsible for providing instructions on art activities, as well as preparing lectures about the art industry. Art instructors share techniques and keep a sufficient amount of art materials for practical use. They also evaluate students' art outputs and give them constructive feedback for development. An art instructor must encourage the students to boost their self-confidence about their craft and guide them to achieve their maximum potential. Art instructors must have excellent knowledge of the art industry, including its importance and history for the students' easy comprehension.
Art instructor responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real art instructor resumes:
- Manage day of logistics and resolve problems to ensure events run smoothly.
- Lead kids through snack, game time, homework time, an art lesson, and manage a gallery wall.
- Instruct elementary school and high school age students in classes such as sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics.
- Create unique process-base art education congruent with session themes in sculpture and 3D media for students five to six years old.
- Organize annual trips to NYC for performing arts students.
- Digitize images and articles into PDF documents for educational use.
- Develop and teach courses in computer graphics, graphic design, and filmmaking.
- Maintain YouTube and Vimeo accounts with current videos and accurate titling and descriptions for SEO purposes.
- Develop activities in printmaking, mask making, book structure, and mural creation throughout spring and summer sessions.
- Design and execute syllabus and curriculum.
- Create clay pottery and sculpture appreciation elementary art curriculum.
- Provide differentiated instruction on literature analysis and writing composition.
- Digitize all original fashion artwork and photography in company database.
- Provide necessary procedures for update the study syllabus or study curriculum.
- Facilitate classroom discussions and debates on literature topics and critical literature analysis.
Art instructor skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Art Instructors are proficient in Classroom Management, Kids, and Professional Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Speaking skills, and Writing skills.
We break down the percentage of Art Instructors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Classroom Management, 17%
Performed classroom management, communicating art activities with parents via newsletters and hosting student art exhibitions.
- Kids, 8%
Designed programming and facilitated art activities with kids.
- Professional Development, 7%
Provided high-level literacy support for members of the school and the community by coordinating parent/teacher conferences and presenting professional development classes.
- Customer Service, 6%
Provided excellent customer service to parents by communicating with them about their children's experience
- Fine Arts, 6%
Help to foster creativity and model age appropriate skills in visual and fine arts within the preschool.
- Curriculum Development, 5%
Collaborate with faculty on interdisciplinary curriculum development.
"classroom management," "kids," and "professional development" are among the most common skills that art instructors use at work. You can find even more art instructor responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. One of the key soft skills for an art instructor to have is interpersonal skills. You can see how this relates to what art instructors do because "postsecondary teachers need to work well with others for tasks such as instructing students and serving on committees." Additionally, an art instructor resume shows how art instructors use interpersonal skills: "designed and implemented monthly curriculum to foster cooperative learning, social and interpersonal skills between adult students with developmental disabilities. "
Speaking skills. Another essential skill to perform art instructor duties is speaking skills. Art instructors responsibilities require that "postsecondary teachers need good communication skills to present lectures and provide feedback to students." Art instructors also use speaking skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "evaluate each trainee's progress in language arts skill: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. "
Writing skills. This is an important skill for art instructors to perform their duties. For an example of how art instructor responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "postsecondary teachers need strong writing ability to publish original research and analysis." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of an art instructor: "developed and implemented reading program and reading list to promote reading and writing skills, as a language arts committee member. ".
The three companies that hire the most art instructors are:
- Art of Problem Solving15 art instructors jobs
- The Boys' Club of New York8 art instructors jobs
- Resources for Human Development7 art instructors jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable art instructor resume templates
Build a professional art instructor resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your art instructor resume.
Compare different art instructors
Art instructor vs. Piano teacher
Piano Teachers are responsible for teaching piano lessons and sustaining student progress by explaining and demonstrating various piano techniques. They develop and execute class plans, and prepare course materials such as syllabi and homework assignments.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an art instructor are more likely to require skills like "classroom management," "kids," "professional development," and "customer service." On the other hand, a job as a piano teacher requires skills like "music education," "ear training," "pianos," and "voice lessons." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Piano teachers really shine in the media industry with an average salary of $55,390. Comparatively, art instructors tend to make the most money in the education industry with an average salary of $41,074.The education levels that piano teachers earn slightly differ from art instructors. In particular, piano teachers are 3.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an art instructor. Additionally, they're 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Art instructor vs. Visiting professor
Visiting professors are faculty members from an institution who must visit a host university to teach, lecture, or perform research on a topic they are knowledgeable in. These professors are required to create a positive learning environment among undergraduate students by inviting them to participate and engage in classroom activities, which can consistently enhance the learning process of their students. They must serve as dissertation research chairperson for Ph.D. students in qualitative and quantitative research studies. Visiting professors must also conduct in-person lectures and direct undergraduate theses for special topics research courses.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that art instructor responsibilities requires skills like "classroom management," "kids," "customer service," and "fine arts." But a visiting professor might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "course content," "student learning," "evaluates," and "philosophy."
Visiting professors may earn a higher salary than art instructors, but visiting professors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $107,231. On the other hand, art instructors receive higher pay in the education industry, where they earn an average salary of $41,074.In general, visiting professors achieve higher levels of education than art instructors. They're 13.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for art instructors in the next 3-5 years?
Greg Hull
Interim Dean, Valerie Eickmeier Professor in Sculpture, Professor, Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis - Herron School of Art and Design
Art instructor vs. College professor
Music Internship is a work experience offered by employers for students or graduates to gain exposure in the music industry's vast segments, such as from a media conglomerate, a music platform, or a music production company. For instance, a music production internship at Tik Tok entails assessing audio and music quality, composing different music styles, designing sounds for various applications, cross collaborating with engineers to produce musical products, and assisting the production team in music cataloging.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, art instructors are more likely to have skills like "classroom management," "kids," "customer service," and "fine arts." But a college professor is more likely to have skills like "classes taught," "mathematics," "semester," and "spanish language."
When it comes to education, college professors tend to earn higher degree levels compared to art instructors. In fact, they're 16.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 9.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Art instructor vs. Music internship
Types of art instructor
Updated January 8, 2025
