Disclaimer: I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.
My family had the privilege of trying the Art of the Northern Countries from Artistic Pursuits Inc. for this review to use in conjunction with our own curriculum at home. 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 8 volumes currently:
- 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
- K-3 Vol. 8 ART IN AMERICA
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 Northern Countries is the fifth 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 ancient artists and 6 video lessons featuring art instruction on materials), and 86 illustrations. This art curriculum book and videos takes a look at of the Northern Countries of Europe from renaissance to realism. The book covers monoprints, observation drawing, relief prints, and more. Young learners will discover where the long lasting tradition of Realism in Western art began as they create and respond to art of the Northern Countries of Europe. They will experience art from famous artists like: Durer, Tuner, Millet, and Carot. Children will work with printmaking, watercolor, charcoal, and oil pastel.
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| K-3 Vol.5 Art Supply Pack | ARTistic Pursuits |
K-3 Vol. 2 Art Supply Pack (can be purchased separately or with the book for additional cost) Includes:
- Prang Pan Watercolors, set of 8
- Blick Vine Charcoal sticks
- Watercolor Paper Pad, 30 sheets
- Sketch Paper Pad, 30 sheets
- Speedball Hard Rubber Brayer
- Water Soluble Printing Ink in teal, yellow, and black
- Foam Printing Sheets, set of 12, 9" x 12"
- 15" x 15" cotton fabric burnt orange cotton tote bag
You will also need these materials from K-3 Vol. 1 Starter Pack
Materials list:- Ebony pencil
- Watercolor brush, #8 round
- Watercolor paper pad
- Drawing paper pad
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Elmer's Glue-All
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| ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Northern Countries Lessons 1-4. |
How We Used This and Our Thoughts:
I did this art instruction for kids with my daughters Zari and Teela who are in 4th and 7th grade this school year. We did one lesson a week and completed 4 lessons. We did what we could with what we had at home and I also bought some supplies as well. My kids love art so they enjoyed these activities and learning about the art and history very much.
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 Inc. Art of the Northern Countries Online Course.
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We also received access to the Online Course for the Art of the Northern
Countries. When you login you get to a page that says "My Art Courses".
This lets you click on view product and sends you to that course page.
This page lets you start the course online with some bonuses. First it
has a "Course Introduction" which has "Welcome to the Course", "Your
Instructor", and "Course Book and Contents" in video format. The next
category in the Online Course is "The Art of Seeing". This section has 2
bonus video lessons: "First Landscapes" and "Discovering Light". The
next section is called, "The Fundamentals" and it has all of the same
video lessons online as the DVD to follow along with the book lessons.
The next category is called "Advanced Tips" and has a video on "Why
Light and Dark Need Each Other". Last is a "Course Wrap Up" and has a
video called, "What's Next". It will automatically mark these video
lessons as complete once they are watched or you can mark as complete
yourself. After they are completed they will have a check mark show up
beside them in the course menu. We loved having the option to watch
these videos online.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Northern Countries, K-3 Vol. 5: Lesson 1 (monoprint). |
The first lesson we had an introduction of art in Europe around the Northern Renaissance and learned how to use a brayer roller and black water-soluble printing ink to make a monoprint using plants and stencils. 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 use the brayer roller and black water-soluble printing ink. Teela did this lesson and she did a butterfly as her stencil. She found plants in our yard to use as well. Hers didn't quite come out as crisp as the one shown in the video and book, but she at least got to understand monoprints and how they work.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Northern Countries, K-3 Vol. 5: Lesson 2 (observation drawing with oil pastels). |
The second lesson in the book we learned about Durer and his painting, "The Large Piece of Turf". We read in the art book how Durer was inspired by art that looked like the real world and how he choose to paint plants when others were painting people. There are questions at the end in bold of this art history lesson about the "The Large Piece of Turf" painting in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. Then we are told with words and shown with color pictures in the book how to make a frame out of construction paper and draw plants with oil pastels. Teela did this art outside and picked plants in our "fairy garden" to draw.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Northern Countries, K-3 Vol. 5: Lesson 3 (oil pastel drawing, snow scene). |
The third lesson we learned about Bruegel's painting, "Hunters in the Snow". There are questions at the end in bold of the this art history lesson in the book to make sure the children are paying attention to the art. Then we are told with words and shown with color pictures in the book how to make an oil pastel drawing of a winter scene. Zari made a snowy cabin in the woods with snow falling and a moon.
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| ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art of the Northern Countries, K-3 Vol. 5: Lesson 4 (relief print). |
The forth lesson we learned more about relief prints. This lesson was accompanied by a video (video #2) on the DVD or Blu-ray. This gave us very visual step-by-step instruction of the process. In this lesson you make a white figure of a pet on a dark background. The video had the art and art instruction to show how to prepare the wax paper surface with the registration sheet, make a printing plate with foam printing sheets, and use the brayer. Zari decided she wanted to do our bunny, Norman, who had passed away. I helped make the printing plate. It asked us to use a picture of a light colored pet. We have a white horse, but Zari wanted to do Norman instead, so even though he was a black and white rabbit I think she did a good job as the correct areas of him were white and black.
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 Northern Countries has been very educational and fun. We have learned so much about the art of the time. I highly recommend this art for children. ARTistic Pursuits Inc. Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray Art of the Northern Countries would be a great art curriculum for use with art history lessons and unit studies of Renaissance, Realism, and Europe.
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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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