My family had the privilege of trying the Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages from ARTistic Pursuits Inc. for this review to use in conjunction with our own homeschool curriculum. This is a Homeschool Review Crew Review. All opinions expressed are my own or those of my family.
ARTistic Pursuits Inc. creates art curriculum for children. This full-color curriculum helps children to grow their skills of observation and critical thinking. It teaches all components of fine art, including creativity, art history, art appreciation, and art techniques. This unique homeschool art program permits the student to be expressive and make up their own decision about what and how they will draw, paint, or sculpt.
ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray by Brenda Ellis are brand new hardcover books for kindergarten and elementary students. These have art history and art instruction lessons in text with pictures to study and video lessons on how to use the art materials. There are a total of 6 volumes currently with two more on their way:
- K-3 Vol. 1 ART FOR CHILDREN, Building a Visual Vocabulary
- K-3 Vol. 2 ART OF THE ANCIENTS
- K-3 Vol. 3 ART OF THE MIDDLE AGES
- K-3 Vol. 4 ARTISTS THAT SHAPED THE ITALIAN RENAISSANCE
- K-3 Vol. 5 ART OF THE NORTHERN COUNTRIES, RENAISSANCE TO REALISM
- K-3 Vol. 6 ART OF THE IMPRESSIONISTS
- K-3 Vol. 7 ART OF THE MODERN AGE (Coming in the summer of 2018!)
- K-3 Vol. 8 ART IN AMERICA (Coming in the summer of 2018!)
Each book covers one whole semester of art if you have your student do one lesson a week. You can do these lessons chronologically starting with volume 1 and follow the history volumes in order or do volume 1 and then skip to the volume of choice after that. It is all up to you.
Art of the Middle Ages is the third volume of the series. It is a hardcover book with both Blu-ray and DVD. It has 64 pages, 18 lessons (12 text lessons featuring artworks by medieval masters and 6 video lessons featuring art instruction on materials), and 106 illustrations. This art curriculum book and videos takes a look at art produced in the Middle Ages, from the early Migration Period to the Gothic architecture of France. Young learners will create and respond to medieval art as they increase their skills in motivation, concentration, and discovery, etc. They also learn about the period and how the people then made art. Children will work with colored paper, needlework, weaving, and oil pastels.
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| K-3 Vol.3 Art Supply Pack | ARTistic Pursuits |
K-3 Vol.3 Art Supply Pack (can be purchased separately or with the book for additional cost) Includes:
- Gesso, small bottle
- Gold acrylic paint, 2 oz
- Tissue paper (assorted colors)
- Sculpey, white, 2 oz
- Flat watercolor brush, 1/2 inch
- Mod Podge, matte finish
- Small tip squeeze bottle
- Plastic sewing needle, large
- Bristle brush, 1 inch
- Lightweight chipboard
- Gold origami paper
- Purple cotton tote bag
You will also need these materials from K-3 Vol. 1 Starter Pack Materials list:
- crayons
- oil pastel set
- scissors
- watercolor brush #8 round
- watercolor paper
- construction paper
- eraser
- Ebony pencil
- Elmer's Glue All
- glue stick
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lessons 1-5 |
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I did this art instruction for kids with my daughters Teela and Zari who were in 1st and 4th grade this past school year. We did one lesson a week which got us through the 5th lesson. My kids love art so this was a great activity to get them busy during the summer. ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages would be a great art curriculum for use with art history lessons and a unit study for the Middle Ages or medieval times.
The lessons without videos have prep notes with tips and information about the type of art. It also has notes on how to instruct a larger group. Then there is the art history lesson on the next page with pictures of an art piece and questions at the end in bold. After the history lesson the book has a page of how to do the art. Each art lesson has a box of text that will list the materials needed for that art project, an example picture of the art made by a student, pictures of the art being assembled and instructions with more insight into the history. The lessons that have videos are truncated in the book and have a minimal amount of information to show you what art will be created and what materials are needed to make the art. These are used with the DVD or Blu-ray.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lesson 1 (Paper Loom Weave and Crown). |
The first lesson we had an introduction of the medieval world and learned how to weave with a paper loom. This lesson was accompanied by a video (video #1) on the DVD or Blu-ray. This gave us very visual step-by-step instruction of the process. We liked the videos and thought they were very thorough, educational, and nicely done. The video had the art history and art instruction to show how to do a weave on a paper loom and a crown that uses the weave, cutting diamonds, using tissue paper as a sort of a window. We couldn't find the gold origami paper so we ended up using shiny wrapping paper for the weave in the crown.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lesson 2 (Weaving Beasts). |
The second lesson in the book we learned about the migration of people, art in battles, and art during the Migration Period. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson about the picture of a metal brooch in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. Then we are told and shown how to do woven beasts out of construction paper.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lesson 3 (Initial Page). |
The third lesson we learned about art in monasteries, medieval illumination, and initial pages. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson about the picture of a medieval illumination. Then we are told and shown how to do a initial page with the first letter of the artists name. We couldn't find the gold origami paper so we ended up using shiny wrapping paper for the letter.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lesson 4 (Mosaic). |
In the forth lesson we learned about art in Basilicas and Byzantine mosaics. There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson about the picture of the Theotokos Mosaic. Then we are told and shown how to do a mosaic of a person out of construction paper.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages Lesson 5 (Panel Drawing). |
In the fifth lesson we watched video #2. We learned about Gothic panels in this lesson. We were instructed to make a panel drawing with tissue paper to create the background and a picture of a colorful song bird drawn on it.
There was only one thing that I would change if I was the author. My daughters and I wished that all the lessons had videos because we are very visual and the videos made the instruction so much easier, but we would also have liked those that did have videos to have the whole instruction and art history lesson in the book as well. This would make it easier to use with those children that are too young to read and those that learn better by reading than by visual and audio as well would benefit if both were used for all lessons. This would help our learners of all types.
So far ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Middle Ages has been very educational and fun. We have learned so much about the art of the time. I highly recommend this art for children. It is perfect for our homeschool art and to go along with our unit study history lessons about the Middle Ages.
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BUY IT
You can purchase ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray. They are each $39.99. If you would like to purchase the art kits with these it is more and depends on the kit.
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