I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
Our family loves art. In fact, our teen has thought about a career in the arts, so we were very excited to review Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary from ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. There are several volumes available in the ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray series including the one we reviewed (Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary). This provided a perfect opportunity to incorporate more formal art lessons into our homeschool day.
Volume I is written with grades K-3 in mind and provides children with lessons that will build their visual vocabulary. It is suggested that students start with Volume 1 and then there are two options:
Even with a few minor difficulties, I would still heartily recommend Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary from the ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray series. In the future, we will definitely be keeping an eye out for other works produced by ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. including Art of the Ancients and Art of the Middle Ages as we love history in our household!
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| In the first lesson, our sons created drawings of two toys - a mermaid and a knight using watercolor crayons. |
Volume I is written with grades K-3 in mind and provides children with lessons that will build their visual vocabulary. It is suggested that students start with Volume 1 and then there are two options:
- Follow history in chronological order through volumes 2-8
- Skip to any volume that features a historical period that interests you and your children
Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary contains a total of 18 projects that your children can create by following along with 12 text lessons and 6 video lessons. The text lessons are laid out with a title, notes for preparation, materials necessary, information, and sometimes master works along with student examples. The video lessons include an overview from Ariel Holcomb and actual step-by-step instructions from Brenda Ellis.
In order to start our lessons, we needed to make some purchases:
- Watercolor crayon set (which none of the arts & craft stores near us carried so we needed to order online)
- Oil pastel set (which was available in each of the arts & crafts stores)
- Watercolor paper pad
We had the other necessary materials since our teen is interested in art and taking an art class in high school. While I knew we would need some supplies, I wish the first lesson would have started with something that only required a pencil and paper as we needed to wait for the arrival of our supplies.
The book is quite beautiful. I would say it is itself a work of art. It is a sturdy, hardcover book that comes with plastic pockets on the front cover for the DVD and Blu-Ray discs. The pages are of great quality and thick. When we lay the book open for a lesson, Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary lays flat with only a bit of pressure.
Video Lessons
The art instruction books contain both DVD and Blu-Ray discs so we were able to watch it on both our television and my laptop. The lessons are presented in an easy-to-follow and easy-to-remember format. In fact, each time we have worked with the watercolor crayons, our five-year-old son repeats the tips and instructions from the first video lesson. We are reminded to use the crayons gently, to not use too much water, to move the brush in one direction, and to clean up when we finished our project.
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| Looking through the book while waiting for the video lesson to start. |
Lessons
Personally, I love that each lesson stresses that our children's completed projects will be unique and look different from the sample projects. Often times, children can feel frustrated that their artwork does not resemble the sample but with this laid out clearly in the lessons, it provides an opportunity to talk about creativity and uniqueness.
Throughout Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary, there are discussions of what the arts are, how to compose, and how to observe, texture, shape, and form. I would have liked to have seen a separate glossary with some of these terms – perhaps to accompany the well-laid out objectives in the back of the book.
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| Our son using watercolor crayons to draw his birthday party complete with Minecraft guests. |
In addition to completing projects with our five-year-old and three-year-old, our teen participated in some of the projects – as did my mother, my husband, and me. We all liked the video instruction and the text instruction.
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| Creating our art projects using the Construction Paper: Cut Lesson and video # 3. |
During the review process, we completed six of the 18 projects including:
- Introductory lesson to watercolor crayons with the first video lesson
- Artists Compose using watercolor crayons
- Artists Imagine using watercolor crayons
- Identify and Mix Colors with video lesson number 2 (my children wanted to watch this lesson multiple times!)
- Construction Paper: Cut with video lesson number 3 where we saw how Brenda created a landscape with construction paper, scissors, and glue
- Introductory lesson to oil pastels with the fifth video lesson
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| Our son's watercolor crayon drawing of our house, from Lesson Two. |
Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary introduces children to several artists and master artworks including:
- The Birthday (1915) by Chagall
- Flower Day (1925) by Rivera
- The Sunflower (1906-1907) by Klimt
- Blue Dancers (1898) by Degas
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| Our son's car drawing using oil pastels and following the instructions from Lesson 11 and Video #5. |
In the final lesson, children are taken through the steps to drawing a self-portrait using oil pastels. First you will take a look at Henry VIII by Holbein the Younger, answer several questions about the painting, and then they will draw their own portrait. I can't wait till we get to this lesson and to see how our children view themselves!
Our five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter have both enjoyed completing the different art projects. In fact, our daughter has thanked me on more than one occasion for "doing art" with her.
What I also like about Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary is the fact that it is very easy for parents to supplement the art projects and lessons. With the artists included, parents can share other artwork for further examples as well as ask their children to read biographies of the artists.
In addition to a glossary, I would love a transcript of the videos or a set of instructions to accompany them. As a someone who prefers to read instructions, it would help me be a better teacher for my children. My only other criticism is that it was very difficult to navigate the Blue-Ray disc. I had difficulty seeing which video lesson was selected. I did not find it any easier to use the DVD with my laptop but I think that is a matter of the program I was trying to use to access the video lessons.
Even with a few minor difficulties, I would still heartily recommend Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary from the ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray series. In the future, we will definitely be keeping an eye out for other works produced by ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. including Art of the Ancients and Art of the Middle Ages as we love history in our household!
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It's interesting to see a program that teaches techniques and does use some different types of art materials.
ReplyDeleteI was actually really impressed with using the watercolor crayons - I had never used them before so this was cool. A
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