Guest Author - Meg Grooms
In more and more school districts the arts are being left behind making way for more intense core subjects, and making room for ever-growing student populations. A primary reason many families homeschool is to allow the arts back into the home. It’s been proven time after time that students who are educated in the arts perform better in all areas of academic study and obtain a more balanced education.
Art appreciation at home can be very simple and rewarding, and doesn’t necessarily require the use of world-renowned museums.
The first thing to consider before beginning your course of study is which artist or medium will you study. Don’t forget the often overlooked mediums of photography, folk art, architecture, and textiles.
Now, think unit study. Ideally you will want to devote 8-12 weeks on two similar artists. You will spend 4-6 weeks studying one artist in depth. When this initial period is over choose a contemporary artist or an artist of a similar medium to study in the same fashion. During the first week read biographies of the artist’s lives together and make a timeline for each. Learn about the medium chosen and how the artist manipulates it. The remaining weeks will be spent studying samples of the artist’s works at the rate of one per week.
The key to studying the works properly is finding proper samples, generally the larger the better. Posters, art calendars, art books, and museum websites are a good place to start. Photographs of the original and post cards are a good, albeit smaller, choice as well. Thrift stores are wonderful places to locate old art calendars and post cards.
Obtain a notebook specifically for the subject of art appreciation. If you can, paste the copy of the work (or a photograph) into your notebook. Have the student spend 10-15 minutes looking into the work, encouraging them to look “deeper” than the general form. Teach your children how to locate the lines, shading and blends in each work. Use a color chart to talk about color blending and shading, warm and cool colors & symmetry. Encourage your child to recreate this work in the same or a different medium. This recreation need not be more than a simple sketching. Include the artist’s name, the date of the work, and any important notes about the work.
Have your child narrate in their notebook. How does this painting make the child feel? Were there any significant events happening in the artist’s life when this work was created? How does the child feel about their recreation of this work?
This method allows the students to compare artists of the same medium or the same time period. Ask about those differences and how they relate to the artist’s life and the social climate of the day. At the end of your comparison period allow the child to create a larger-than-life recreation if they wish, or hold a family art show. There are no limits when you include art appreciation into your child’s education!
