If you can squeeze in one afternoon a month for art, you can successfully use this program. No art background (or talent!) is necessary. What’s more, little preparation time is required, other than to gather the art supplies needed. If you purchase the pre-assembled Art Supply Bundles, even that dwindles to almost nothing. So - not having time or talent is no longer an excuse for not incorporating art into your curriculum! And this one is very simple to use - well-organized, well-formatted, and well-done!

The program is now entirely online and must be accessed through the publisher’s website, www.meetthemasters.com. It still consists of three basic components: a slideshow presentation that introduces the artists (narrated by you with the help of the printable .pdf lesson), student packets to help students understand techniques used by the masters (also printable .pdfs to download) and art activities (projects based on those techniques). All content is now accessible through their website; upon purchase from us you will receive a packet of information that includes program and log-in information. The only other equipment you’ll need are some simple art supplies and a computer with internet access. There are 7 units in each track, most of which focus on one artist. (Track A has 1 preview lesson and 6 artist lessons). Tracks are intended to take a year to complete, with one artist taught per month. This first year (Track A) studies Van Gogh, Cassatt, Mondrian, Picasso, Monet and Homer. Track B covers Remington, O’Keeffe, Hokusai, Matisse, Degas, Hahlo, and Wyeth. Track C covers Miro, Rembrandt, Bonheur, Lawrence, Calder, Gauguin, and Lautrec. The same artists are studied at all grade levels. Each session begins with an introduction to the master being studied. This is essentially a slide show (under your control), but does contain several audio clips and even some audio/visual presentations. You are the narrator through much of this, and a script is provided for you along with very clear instructions about what and when to click. This presentation will take from 20-40 minutes, depending on age level.

The next step is "Learning From" which consists of several worksheets on which the student becomes acquainted with and practices a technique or characteristic of the artist’s work. This takes about 20 minutes and is kind of a warm-up for the longer art project to follow. Plan on spending at least 1-2 hours on the art project itself. In this last portion of the lesson, your student will actually create a work of art similar to all or part of the master’s, using the techniques he’s practiced. Your participation is essential as you will be demonstrating some of this. Fortunately, step-by-step instructions take you by the hand here, along with helpful illustrations - making your job all very clear and easy to follow. Art exercises and projects for each unit vary by grade level both by concept and level of ability required.

To give you a better idea of the types of activities included, I’ll refer to my sample of the age 8-9 curriculum. The preview unit uses the online presentation to introduce and overview the artists and their works to be studied in the unit - with some brief information about each. The Learning Activity is on optical illusions (learning to look carefully) and the art project is creating a portfolio to keep the rest of the course’s artwork in. Unit 2 focuses on Van Gogh. The presentation incudes biographical information, specific artworks, actual audio presentations quoting from some of his correspondence, and good accompanying analysis in the narrative portion. A very nice audio/visual presentation showing selected Van Gogh pieces set to Don McLean’s "Vincent" is played at the end of the session. The learning exercises are about texture and have the student practice showing textures via drawing, drawing concentric broken-line circles, building texture around shapes, and creating a drawn textural composition. This is all done on .pdf worksheets. The art activity focuses on The Starry Night which your student will try to recreate using black construction paper and oil pastels. A print of that work is included for inspiration (and reference). Other units are similarly constructed. The same presentation is used regardless of age level. You can print as many exercise worksheets as you need, making the curriculum non-consumable. Multi-track or age bundles of 3 tracks are also now available, at a discount. These offer the best deal if you like the program and are wanting to use it with all of your children, or to study all featured artists at one age level. The bundles are for family use; co-ops and charter schools should contact the publisher for group licenses.

The art bundles are sold separately and include all the art supplies you will need for the projects. We currently have bundles available for A and B; check our website for availability of C. We carry many of these items individually also; check our "art supplies" category for individual items if you already own some of the supplies.

Customer Reviews

 
Rachel C. from Riverside,CA wrote the following on 11/07/2007:
We have just started the Track A program this year and after the first lesson on Van Gogh my girls were all hooked. We have also asked a couple of their friends to join us and they have enjoyed the program as well. I highly recommend this program. It is very informative and easy to use.

 
Carolyn P. from Tennessee wrote the following on 03/19/2004:
My daughter had the oppourtunity to attend an art class at her friend's school a few years ago which used this program which in schools is known as "Art Masters". I helped teach this program to a classroom full of students and was amazed at the results! Every child in the class' work was great! I was amazed how simple it was to teach and how much the children enjoyed it. I longed for my daughter and I to have this in our homeschool. Finally I searched the web and found the Meet the Masters website! I was also thrilled to find that Rainbow Resource carried this product. I'm buying it today! It is definitely worth the price!