ARTistic Pursuits Volume 8: Art in America-Review

Jenny/ March 14, 2019/ Homeschool Reviews

 

I absolutely love art so I was super thrilled to get to review ARTistic Pursuits Inc. and their K-3rd Grade Level, Volumes 1-8.  I personally got to review the  Volume 8: Art in America!  This is a great resource for any homeschool or family wanting to teach their children (or learn themselves) art technique and art history that is a part of America’s history.  The book is hardback and contains 12 text lessons and a total of 18 projects.  It also includes a dvd and a Blu-ray disc which have 6 video lessons that correspond with the book.

 Lessons in the book are as follows:  

1.  Drawing is Moving (video #1)

2.  George Bellows 

3.  Drawing a Good Line (video #2)

4.  John Singleton Copley 

5.  Identifying Light and Dark (video #3)

6.  Arthur Davies 

7.  Colored Pencils (video #4)

8.  Rembrandt Peale 

9.  John James Audubon

10.  Winslow Homer

11.  Robert Henri

12.  Max Weber

13.  Layered Colors (video # 5)

14.  Walter Ufer

15.  John Frederick Peto

16.  Ruler and Compass (video #6)

17.  Charles Demuth

18.  Charles Burchfield

 

One thing that I really liked about this series is how detailed they are.  Since these are designed for young children they start off really basic and talk about how to hold the pencil properly, sharpen a pencil properly and protect it from being damaged.  The text lessons give basic instructions but the video lessons are what show you the actual techniques used.  The book also gives background information on the artists and shows a painting or drawing they did.  

 

Children are encouraged to come up with their own subjects to draw since they will automatically pick something they like.  Since they are kids their drawings may be lacking in things you think they should have but really the point is to get them excited about art and begin to learn how to draw.  This book teaches them to look at light and they will learn how to darken objects to show shadows, ect…

 

We focused mainly on learning to draw with pencils because they are 8, 5 and 2.  We all sat down at the table after watching the video and started drawing.  Jake is the fast drawer.  He does not like to take his time and that is definitely one area he will be working on.  Gabe loves to draw.  He has some difficulty holding his pencil correctly but I think drawing with a pencil is good practice for him.  Lilly, well, she’s 2.  She mostly just makes interesting looking somethings 🙂

 

The techniques we focused on were drawing a good line, drawing is moving and identifying light and dark.  As they progress we will be going further into the book.

 

I used the techniques described to make a few drawings and other than my attempts at people (which are always unique to say the least) I was pleased with the results.

 

Just like the series I did a review on last year Art for Children this one was very thorough and easy to follow.  I highly recommend it for teaching youngsters to draw while giving them some lessons in American art history!  We all reviewed different volumes in this series so be sure and check the other reviews out at the link below!