This qualitative study examined the formidable and unanticipated challenges encountered by teachers at a new urban charter school during the first year. These teachers--who largely were novices to urban education--worked diligently to motivate and teach the children--many of whom resisted classroom learning because of their frustrations in schools they previously attended. This article explores how visual arts particularly were used to excite and engage children in learning by enabling them to draw, color, and shape ideas about their world.