I consider us a pretty crafty family, but art with Instruction we are not. That being said, I was happy to be able to Review one of the two New Sculpture books from ARTistic Pursuits called Sculpture Technique: Construct. ARTistic Pursuits provides Homeschool Art Instruction for Kiddos in grades Pre-K through high school. There is literally something for Everbody!! I say this, because even I dabbled with a little Sculpting with Mahala on this review. But, I will spare you the details and pictures on that one. :)
The actual book we used was the Sculpture Technique: Construct book and it is intended for students ages 11-18 and costs $47.95. I think for the most part there is very little parent involvement Required. It's pretty straightforward with the instructions. Nothing has been left out in the details of each lesson. But, once you take a look at the projects you wont want to miss out on all the FUN!!!
This book is divided into 4 units, which are:
- Creating Form in Papermaking
- Creating Planes in Cardboard
- Creating Motion with Paper-mache
- Creating Volume with Wire
You are not locked into going through the book in order. Just flip through and start where ever you want to! Mahala couldn't decide. It honestly took her 2 weeks to decide on her first project.
I liked that each unit has sections that first go over the Elements of the sculpture project, like Papermaking, or Paper-mache for example. The photos of examples are wonderful in the Project Inspiration section. If your lacking any ideas you will surly get a spark from any of the examples provided. Then there is a section giving you all materials needed, safety guidelines and basic instructions before you actually execute the projects Brenda Ellis has mapped out for you. At the end of each Unit you will find an Evaluation to reflect on your work and go over all the new Concepts you just learned and put into motion. Mahala was a bit bummed that there was an evaluation to take. But, after the 3rd question she was surprised that it was more of an Overview or Reflection on the unit she had just finished and not a nail biting fact based test. That made her one Happy Artist!!!
We decided to read and gather supplies during the weekend before we planned to actually work. We started the unit on a Monday and finished on a Thursday. During the week we left out all the supplies in our Art Room so it wasn't uncommon for me to find her in there after dinner working on her project.
Mahala started with Creating Form in Papermaking. First she started making the homemade paper. We even added bits of thread and twine to ours for extra texture. This was such a messy project and I was so involved I forgot to take any pictures. But, we decided to make our own stationary over the Summer to give as gifts for Christmas next year. :) As for creating form with our paper, our thought was to make angels for our Christmas tree by using the wet paper construction method. We need to make a few adjustments before we have a keeper, but that's the Beauty of Art. :)
The next section we dived into was the Creating Motion with Paper-mache. This brought back tons of childhood memories for me. :) She had nothing in mind at first. She wanted to gather random recyclables and start building until it looked right. Here is what she came up with....
This is Our first experience with them and I have our books already picked out for next year. :)
The whole Book is wonderfully laid out and easy to use.
The artwork made is sure to make Great gifts that any Grandparent or
Parent would be so proud of their little budding artist!
Sculpture Technique: Construct is available from ARTistic Pursuits
for $47.95, Great price for a whole year of High-Quality Art Instruction for your Homeschool. I encourage you to take a look at ARTistic Pursuits for sure!
Make sure to Check out ARTistic Pursuits on Facebook and Pinterest.
