This case study uses discourse analysis to address contemporary practices in secondary school art education and in particular the intersection between what might be called formal and informal practices in students' artwork. The case study draws upon recent developments in theory around digital technology in education and informal learning to suggest that practices in a school art classroom are influenced by changes in wider society and explores how certain traditions in school art sit with new practices developing with the influence of such technology. The case study draws upon ethnographic data collected in one secondary school art classroom in the north of England and presents two examples from this fieldwork. These are analysed using discourse analysis methods to suggest that art education practices, both traditional and contemporary, are shaped and maintained by the language and value systems that surround them. [This content is provided in the format of an e-book.]