Book Review - Discovering Great Artists

Posted on February 8, 2008
Filed Under Books |

 Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl seems to be a book that I keep going back to, and one I find very useful.

The book contains 110 art projects for children, each project based upon the styles and techniques of the great masters. The artists are grouped by style (Impressionist, Modern, Realism etc.) and a small paragraph about each artist is included. An art project (sometimes two) is then outlined for that artist that is relevant to his style or technique.

This week the children and I have been talking about the Impressionists - Monet in particular. The project for Monet is to notice his short, dabbling paint stokes and to try to copy this in a painting of your own (ok! that one probably isn’t very inspiring!). Previously, when studying Michelangelo, we followed the idea of taping a large sheet of paper to the underside of a low table, and painted lying on our backs (as per the Sistine Chapel!). For Mary Cassatt we made a monoprint using an old baking tray.

On the whole I find the projects in this book mostly interesting and imaginative. The downside to the book is that it is all in black and white - with NO examples of paintings by the artists themselves.

If you are looking to study the artists, then I think you would find this book of interest. We dip into the book as we need it, but if you followed the projects through the book you would be introduced to a wide variety of techniques.

I also recently came across an Artists Activity Pack from Hands-On History (downloadable) that looks very interesting. This looks like a great way of studying art history.

 

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One Response to “Book Review - Discovering Great Artists”

  1. Homeschool Books - How to display kids art work on February 29th, 2008 8:46 am

    […] Looking for more art ideas? See my book review of Discovering Great Artists. […]

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