Homeschooling 101

Lesson 4: Insider Secrets

Art Appreciation

When we decided to tackle art appreciation, I knew we would need a “plan of attack.” ExploreArt turned out to be just that plan. Fourteen lessons, each studying a Master artist from history… and then duplicating their “trademark” style.
Using ExploreArt as a starting point, we studied each of the fourteen masters listed for a month each, learning quite a bit as we went along.

Here is how we studied art appreciation:

Start by making a list of the artists you want to study. You can go through them chronologically or as you see fit. You could spend a week, a month or a year on Impressionists, Italian Renaissance Art or African Art, 18th century British landscape artists … or whatever!

Once you have your list, head to the library. Get a few library books out for that artist (make sure one is a biography) and choose one with large, color reproductions. Choose one of the pictures of your chosen artist to be your study picture for the week. Designate a 5-15 minute block of time each day to do “Picture Study”. Sit with your kids taking turns holding the picture. Make observations about the picture. Ask questions. (How to Unwrap A Work of Art has a great list of questions to ask.) Close your eyes, and see if you can recall any of the details of the picture. If you can, leave the book propped open to the page of the picture you are studying, so that way, the kids see the picture as they go about their day. After a week, choose another by the same artist. (We study each artist for a month.)
You can sometimes find the works of the artists you have chosen on calendars, posters etc. Just be sure they are large enough for your children to get a good idea of the work of art. (Postcards are nice, but should not be relied on for your picture study.) Art.com is a great place to find reproductions, although some of them are in poster size. National Gallery of Art is an excellent source of prints for view or purchase.

We have a binder where we keep our color reproductions in sheet protectors so we can look through the whole progression. It can sometimes be a challenge finding the prints, but it is worth it! We also visit the art museum every chance we get!

Here are two websites you might find helpful:
ExploreArt Master Timeline
The Metropolitan Museum of Art- Timeline of Art History

And a book:

Discovering Great Artists
110 amazingly fun and unique art activities for children to experience the styles and techniques of the great masters, from Renaissance to the present. A brief biography of each artist is included with a fully illustrated, child-tested art activity, featuring painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, architecture, and more!

Great Artists activities include: