Discovering Great Artists

This longtime favorite art resource has been updated and is now in full color! Students and teachers are invited to explore the styles and techniques of famous artists throughout history with well-designed hands-on art experiences. Over 60 artists are featured, grouped into four sections: Renaissance and Post-Renaissance, Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Expressionists/Abstract/Cubists/Dadaists/Surrealists, and Pop/Op/Modern/Photojournalists/Children's Book Illustrators. A sampling of artists included are: Van Eyck, Botticelli, Da Vinci, Hokusai, Monet, Degas, Matisse, Gaugin, Escher, Calder, Picasso, Chagall, Kahlo, O'Keeffe, Pollock, Rauschenberg, and Ringgold. Each two-page spread features biographical information about the artist on the left and an art activity for students to replicate the artist's style or medium on the right-hand page. The artist biography page also features a full-color example of their work, and lesson icons for the activity: art experience level, amount of planning required, the art technique used, and the artist style. The right-hand page includes a materials list, step-by-step instructions and at least one example of student work. In the lesson on Michelangelo Buonarroti, children (or the whole family) will fill a length of butcher paper or similar rolled art paper with a scene of characters. When the paper is full and the paint is dry, the parent can tape the paper to the ceiling, and the children can observe the figures from below, as if they were Michelangelo looking up at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The materials vary by lesson, but include a range of art supplies (paper, tempera paint, watercolor paint, pencils, paint brushes, various types of paper) and household supplies (cardboard, string, craft sticks, newspaper, tape). At the end of the book, you'll find a glossary of art terms and an index. With much of the same content and a fresh new look, this is an excellent resource to pair with a history curriculum, or to pair with additional reading and art masterpiece resources to create your own art curriculum at the elementary grades. 150 pages, pb.