Once I have selected an Artist (usually someone I or the kids are interested in) I try to find a selection of prints. In the past we have used Taschen Portfolios I found at Barnes & Noble for $5-$10. With our next Artist we will be using a calendar - you can find calendars for past year for $3-$5, and current calendars are $10-$15.
I let my kids take turns picking which print we will put on our fridge. I like to leave them up for at least 2 weeks, but I admit sometimes they are up for 3 or 4 weeks. We try to study at least 6 prints. A couple days each week we take a few minutes, usually during breakfast or lunch, to talk about the painting - What do you see? What colors were used? What shapes and lines stand out? Can you see the brush strokes? etc. After a couple weeks we put up a new painting.
I let my kids take turns picking which print we will put on our fridge. I like to leave them up for at least 2 weeks, but I admit sometimes they are up for 3 or 4 weeks. We try to study at least 6 prints. A couple days each week we take a few minutes, usually during breakfast or lunch, to talk about the painting - What do you see? What colors were used? What shapes and lines stand out? Can you see the brush strokes? etc. After a couple weeks we put up a new painting. Any Doctor Who fans caught up with the latest season? I admit I'm a slightly obsessive fan, and I picked the picture for this week:
After a couple months I let the kids pick a painting to reproduce. Sometimes they pick one we have studied, sometimes they pick one we didn't. They also get to choose which medium they will use - paint, markers, crayons, colored pencils, etc. For paper we use 11"x14" posterboards I found on clearance. This gives the kids a large enough paper to work with which is also stronger than copypaper or even drawing paper. Here are their most recent pictures - Good-bye Vincent Van Gogh.
Using a large size posterboard I made each of them a portfolio by folding it in half and taping the sides. We keep their pictures in it and they love being able to look at them and remember the artists.
This is the basics of doing Artist Study, but there are a couple other things I like to do as well. I find a few picture books from the library about the artist, but I like the books to have a story, as opposed to a biography with dull facts and dates. Some excellent examples are the Anholt's Artist Books for Children by Laurence Anholt: Camille and the Sunflowers, Picasso and the Girl with the Ponytail, Leonardo and the Flying Boy, etc. I also make them each a notebook page with a picture of the artist, basic dates, and a few inspiring quotes. They are starting to get quite a collection and love to look through them.
We are not doing an artist study at this point but it is something I want to start. Thanks for sharing how you guys do it and what resources you use.
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