Artistic Pursuits-High School Levels

For families with children in high school that are looking for a high quality, easy to implement art appreciation and art skills plan all in one book, Artistic Pursuits Senior High, Books 1 and 2 may be a good fit. Using great art and solid teaching of the basic art elements, your child will be able to work through the two high school level Artist Pursuits books independently.

Each of the sixteen units starts with an art element that is featured in a painting presented in the unit. The book neatly ties together the observing of a work of art and then applying the art elements  in a clearly explained assignment. Your child is given specific instruction for creating a piece of artwork that illustrates their understanding of the focus of the unit.

The book not only introduces great art, it also gives step by step instructions on how to get started with the art medium being used. Even if your child has never picked up a drawing pencil, charcoal, or a brush and tube of watercolors, they will find that Artistic Pursuits will give them the steps necessary to get going and to feel confident that they are not going to be in over their heads.

There are three elements to each lesson:

*Challenge Your Vision-These creative assignments jump start the learning of the featured art element.

*How To-The student practices with the art medium, using techniques outlined in the assignment.

*Project-The student shows their interpretation of the art element by completing a final project outlined at the

end of the unit.

The biggest complaint that I hear about Artistic Pursuits in our family is that you are working on one or perhaps two kinds of art materials per year. Book One uses drawing pencils and charcoal and Book Two uses watercolors all year. We worked around this with our boys by supplementing with additional time each week for “free art” with a variety of art materials.

Grading art projects can be tricky so I appreciate having the evaluation sheets in the back of the book to copy for each unit. It gives me a more objective way to determine if the boys have accomplished the lesson and its assignment. It assigns a certain point value to three different aspects of the lesson. The projects are not graded on ability but rather by having us look at the finished projects together and using the “Looking Back” questions at the end of the unit, the boys help me to determine if they accomplished the assignment as stated.

In addition, each high school level book gives you information on how to record your child’s work on their high school transcript. The author breaks each high school level book down for you: Book 1-Studio Art and Book 2-Painting.  The book also helps you to put together an art portfolio for your child if they wish to use it as part of their college entrance materials.

We have been very happy with the Artistic Pursuits books over the years and the high school level plans have lived up to our very high expectations. The lessons we have learned through the pages of these books will carry on throughout a lifetime. Thanks Artistic Pursuits.

If you have younger children, you may be interested in reading my review of the Jr. High level of Artistic Pursuits and a few thoughts on the K-3 Book.

Written by Barb-Harmony Art mom.  She also blogs at http://www.harmonyartmom.blogspot.com/