How We Do Artist Study


Charlotte Mason was a proponent of studying fine art with children from a young age.  Studying one artist's work for several weeks at a time allows the child to become familiar with the style and hallmarks of that artist.

While I do not precisely follow Ms. Mason's picture study method, I maintain the spirit of her ideas in our artist studies.

I am a big fan of research worksheets/aids.  These great tools teach research skills, promote independent study, and help me stay sane by providing some structure to what can be an ambiguous and seemingly lofty practice.

I know these may be a bit too much like a worksheet for some of you~ fair enough.  Though, I did try to create a Learning aid to stimulate thinking rather than regurgitation.

Here's how we do Artist Study:

THE PREP

~Assemble Research Resources:  library books, websites, articles, & these are helpful

~Gather Samples of the Artist's Work:  Print your own from online resources, art prints are great gifts for Grandma to give,  Dover Publications has several inexpensive options

~Display Artist's Work Around the House:  On the fridge, in the bathroom, next to your child's bed, make them into place mats, wherever they will receive concentrated attention

~Print Artist Profile Sheets (1 set per child)



THE STUDY

~Split up the profile sheets over 4 weeks

~Each child needs a binder to house their sheets 

~Train your child how to use these sheets effectively & gauge her ability to work independently.  Some will need more help than others (age is not necessarily the indicator).  Once they know how to use them, they will require less and less help from you. 

(samples)
    3rd Grader
  • Week 1:  "General Information" &  "Medium" (pp.1-2)

Picasso ~ 3rd Grader
    6th Grader
  • Week 2:  "Subject" & "Influences" (pp.3-4)

  • Week 3:  "My Take","Picture Study 1", & "Picture Study 2" (pp.5-7)

    8th Grader
  • Week 4:  "Picture Study 3" & "My Masterpiece" (pp.8-9)

Picasso ~ 8th Grader




Grandma Moses ~ 3rd Grader

These sheets can be used with multiple ages.  I have used them with a 2nd grader (heavy guidance) and a 9th grader, and everywhere in between.



Picasso Final Project~ 3rd Grader






Comments

  1. hello :) I think you have some great research tools and pages! We started AO this year and have been looking for some pages like these!! Thank you for sharing! Are you still offering these for download? The button says it's unavailable :( Thanks again

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