CM Picture Study or MP Art Cards

[classicmommy]

I am wanting to incorporate some art appreciation with my 1st and 3rd graders. Has anyone used CM Picture Study or MP Art Cards (with or without the Enrichment guide)? I would love your thoughts and suggestions. Thank you!

[TX Pilgrim]

Hi,

    I am not sure exactly what you mean by CM Picture Study.  Do you mean the prints from Simply Charlotte Mason?  Are you referring to the way that CM approaches art study - looking at the painting without doing much historical background?  I have gotten a few print sets from SCM and like them. The paper quality is nice - they are a good size and will last. I know that Ambleside Online also links to the prints that they use in their current rotation each year. Here you can either view them on the screen or get them printed out.  Likewise, Barefoot Ragamuffin has art prints for the elementary years for FREE at her lulu store.  She uses them every two weeks in her Literature study - 3 different artists per year.  So that is 15 artists with 6 works a piece there.  She has color versions and a black and white that your children can use as a coloring page.  Again, you are just printing these out on your computer or at a local copy store.

 

    I know that some like to use Mary Ann Kohl's book to give kids an experience creating art similar to the artist they are studying.  Some follow what CM says and have the child try to draw what they see - copy the painting.  We did that for a while and I think I remember those paintings best.  Next year I am trying to slow down a bit more so that we can make time to do this type of activity at a more leisurely pace. 

 

   I am not fabulous at getting art study done (we are a part of co-ops to help make that a more regular thing at our house).  I have been doing the prints with Barefoot Ragamuffin and I appreciate them being easily accessible (they are included in the ELTL guide).   I am not familiar with MP's Art Cards or enrichment guide - so I can't comment on what they provide. 

[Esse Quam Videri]

Love love love CM picture study with SCM portfolios. Develops habit of attention, eye for detail, memorization, appreciation of beauty, narrating... It's a lovely part of our week.

[ExcitedMama]

I love MP so far. We have the K Enrichment and Art cards. If you are just interested in art then you wouldn't need the Enrichment guides which only have about a paragraph on the art for the week and is mostly a short biography on the artist. I add in books from the library to learn more when possible. Some DS really likes and wants to learn more and others he has no interest in which I find fascinating as to what captured his attention. I will definitely do it again next year with 1st Grade enrichment.

 

The Enrichment books coordinate with the calendar and we were behind approaching Easter so I ended up putting like 4 cards up at once instead of just the one and it actually held his attention more. He looks at the board a lot more and talked about the differences in the pieces so I think from now on I might put up several at once.

[Susie in MS]

We use the free resources linked above (Ambleside and Ragamuffin). I get them printed up cheaply at our library. They have served us well. 

[hermione310]

I love the MP art cards. I ordered a set of the 11x17 size and use them in rotation in our classroom. We have four up on the wall now. Although it's the "first grade" set, these are suitable for any age. (Surely appreciating great works of art doesn't have an age limit! : )  I made a file card with the name of the artist and piece that I pinned above the poster. We get to look at these beautiful works, and become familiar with the title and artist. A year or two from  now, I'll order another set. There are plenty in this one, however, to keep in rotation for a while.

[kaxy]

I bought the 3 grades of Memoria Press art cards thinking I'd combine and put them in order by artist and have a few prints for one artist to focus on for a time. There is a wide variety of artists represented, and so if there are multiple works of an artist, the most might be 3 prints? I can't remember. MAYBE there is an artist with 4 prints, but that's probably being generous. 

 

If you are wanting to spend a term (or at least a month?) with one artist and a few prints, then using something else would make more sense. 

 

Or, if you wanted to do a more broad art appreciation, a pack of MP cards is inexpensive. You could do that + a coordinating Mark Venezia book from the library.

 

OR -- if you have any nearby art museums, you could plan a few visits and maybe even get prints of some of the museum's more famous works to study ahead of time and then be excited to see the original at the museum

[Teneo]

We have been using SCM's art cards. We read a bit of the biography, follow the steps to look at the painting (I love how SCM explains how to make it more challenging for late elementary and then again increase the challenge for teens) After that part is done the back of the book has information on the specific work, like the background of how it was made, the size, location, etc. It's simple and well done.

[carriede]

I just ordered and returned SCM's picture study portfolio. Like a previous poster said, it's best for older students.

 

I was just given a used set of Child Size Masterpieces for steps 1-3. I'm really excited about it. I think they're similar to MP's cards, but I don't really know.

 

ETA, I love the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series!

Edited April 2, 2016 by carriede

[cintinative]

If you have printed some of the available prints from Ambleside, how did you do that?  Color ink jet on cardstock? Send to an outside printer? I love the SCM picture portfolios but they are too expensive for me to own multiples. I am either going to have to find a cheap place to print my own or just pull up the paintings on the computer.  Thanks for your help!