Still Exploring Art Appreciation

It was pointed out to me that I didn't mention how we do art appreciation in our house. Frankly, it's because I'm still experimenting. I can tell you where I am in the process though.

If you remember from my Fine Arts Friday post, I mentioned obtaining prints through photo centers. This continues to be a huge success with modifications. When I give them the new print, I simply state its title and author. The first week we spend a few minutes studying it, turn it over and I ask each child to tell me three things they remember seeing the print. The second week, we simply sketch roughly what we see in the paintings.We might play the game "I Spy" at the end of the term. Done and done. I don't try to give a brief background of the painting, experiment the art technique the artist used, nor color a coloring page. This is good enough. I suppose you could just use a screen saver to view the print but I have a soft spot for art and thus allow for the indulgence of giving each child their own little print. *laughs*

I have since dropped the Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artist series. I think Susan Macaulay in For the Children's Sake has a point here.

Later on, a child with this rich background will find it interesting to relate art to history, literature, and culture. Time enough later for an understanding of schools, styles, development.

It certainly seems to hold true in my household. I can see my children's eyes glaze over whenever we read from this book. I think a more age-appropriate approach would be something like those suggested in Artistic Pursuits, Glady Blizzards' Come and Look with Me series etc. For older students, the Sonlight catalog holds some possible options as well as those suggested in the article Art Appreciation by Pattie Kelley-Huff in The Catholic Homeschool Companion.

However, with keeping with the simplicity approach, I'm going to stick to the method as described above. I want to at least complete studying the prints that I've invested in before trying something different. If we seem to still be enjoying it, then we continue with another artist. If the method was fine but we need a break, Glady Blizzards' books are available in my library. If I have ton of energy, I might consider trying Artistic Pursuits instead. Or we can just take a break from art appreciation. *smilez*

I do believe that a minimalistic homeschool is realistic. I just don't think it means all purchases or pocessions are necessarily evil. We buy what we need. We sell/donate what we don't. We use what we have. We borrow what we can. And if doing any of these things complicates things or impedes our quest for knowledge and personal development, then our homeschool is no longer minimalistic.