Discovering Great Artists

[rafiki]

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[lulubelle]

We did get this and did the first 3 projects. My boys are 6 and 4. Too young. They just weren't getting the appreciation out of it. I'll try again in a couple of years when they can be part of the prep work for it. They love learning about artists by reading about them in Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series we get from the library. That surpised me how much they like it. Throw in some cartoons and my kids love it!

[Ali in OR]

Where are you in the history cycle? We have it too and haven't used it much yet, but my 8 yo and 6 yo enjoy it when we do. I just always run out of time for art. But I'm hoping to use it a lot more next year in year 4 as we hit the time period with more of these artists. We have the Great American Artists by the same authors and most of the artists are in the 1850 to 2000 time period. My oldest is in a public school where they use PTA funds to hire an artist to teach art. I don't know if she uses this book, but lots of the projects on the walls are drawings or paintings in the style of a particular artist. So I think we'll try to use both of these books next year and then concentrate on technique the year after.

[mom2att]

I used it in a co-op teaching k/1st graders. We studied a different artist each week. I could usually find some type of picture book in the library about that week's artist, and after reading the book we would look at prints of the artist's work and discuss. The kids would then try their hand at art in that style, and the Discovering Great Artists book has some nice ideas that can be adapted for young children (painting while lying on the back a la michaelangelo is a fun one). We also did a little mini-book to identify each artist with a sticker print of their work (Dover sticker books are great--inexpensive, too!). It worked well in a classroom format and the kids had fun. I was surprised at how much they learned, too--parents would tell me that their child saw a print hanging up at ballet class and identified it as Degas, etc. Since you have the book, why not learn about a new artist each week and do one of the activities from the book? Could be a lot of fun, and not too much planning for mom!

 

I should add that I am so not an artist, and I learned a lot, too! Kindergarten art I can handle, since it's SUPPOSED to look like a kindergartener did it!

[Mothersweets]

Kindergarten art I can handle, since it's SUPPOSED to look like a kindergartener did it!

 

:laugh: Too funny!

 

I have this book but haven't used it yet. Nice to hear how you used it -I like the mini-book idea!