2013-14 Art Study

Ever since I got over the fact that I have no formal art instruction and very little skill in making art, I have enjoyed our picture studies immensely. We look at the pictures. We flip them over and try to describe what we saw. We turn them back and see how well we did at remembering. Sometimes we laugh (nicely!) at each other for silly mistakes, and I am often astonished at the details their little eyes pick up. Some terms I am really ambitious and I read a biography, but let's be honest here - that doesn't happen often. For the most part, we just enjoy the art. Almost incidentally, we have talked about mood, color, how that particular painter plays with light, and comparisons and contrasts to other artists and art movements. In our home, all of those details are explored and discovered together. I am no expert, so how can I teach them what they should be seeing? The happy outcome of this method has been that they get to discover for themselves. They are curious and active in their investigation, rather than being passively receptive to the information I hand out. They have learned an astonishing amount just by looking, enjoying, and letting it all seep in.

This year, I am particularly excited to see two terms focusing on American artists. Of course, there is a huge body of beautiful European, Middle Eastern, and Asian art. American art, however, has a unique feel to it. There is an immensity and wildness to it that you don't see in too many other places. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have a soft spot for it because that is our national heritage. At any rate, I am really looking forward to our art studies this year using the Ambleside Online 2013-14 Artist Schedule. There are also some excellent informational links on the page (which I may or may not get around to).

There are several free art print files floating around. Over the past year, I have developed a particular look that I prefer. I want my prints to be very clean, with plenty of white space, and minimal printing to distract from the image. On the other hand, the prints are going to go into a binder after the term is over, so I do want some information on them for when we look back later. This year, I added the title and date of the work and the artist's name and life dates, and what style of art the piece belongs to. (Is there a general name for art movements like Impressionism, Pointillism, or Cubism? If you know something about art, please leave me a comment!) If this particular layout doesn't work for you, keep looking. I know there is at least one set available on the AO forums, and another on the Yahoo group AO Art Prints. If you like these images, feel free to download them and use them for your own family's studies.* Please remember that these are rather large files. They may take a while to download. Click on the image to see what the prints look like. Click on the link to download the full term's files.

Term 1: John Singleton Copley, American

Download the full-sized prints for the term. 

 Term 2: Eduard Manet, French Impressionist

Download the full-sized prints for the term.
Note: If you got your prints before 10/15/13, please download the updated file. There were several mistakes and one missing print. I must have skipped my coffee the morning I created these!

Term 3: The Hudson River School - Cole, Church, Cropsey, Durand

Download the full-sized prints for the term.

I have just a few final notes:

1. All three of these files include the full range of suggested prints for the year, including alternates and extras. If you want to minimize your printing costs, be sure to delete the pages you are not going to use before you send the file to the print shop. I printed them all out. I will probably just hang the extras up for the kids to enjoy, rather than trying to squeeze them into school time.

2. I have my prints done at Office Max. Their prices are reasonable, and the prints look beautiful on their glossy cardstock. I download my files online and pick them up at my local shop. I believe they will ship them if you don't have a local store. All the prints for the year, including alternates and extras, cost me less than $20.

3. All of these images are in the public domain - that means they are no longer protected by copyright laws - based on the limitation of the artist's lifetime plus 75 years. To avoid being hassled at pickup, I wrote this on all the files I downloaded, and added it in the "note" section before I sent in the job. The technician at Office Max teased me a little because I wrote it on the job at least three times, but I got my prints with no problem!

4. I still need to finish the art cards for the year. Those will hopefully be posted soon, so check back or subscribe for notification.


Do you do art study? Do you follow the Ambleside rotation or do something else? Which painter(s) are you looking forward to the most this year? Do your kids have any favorites?



*If you want to use these for your family or group's study, download them with my blessings. It should go without saying, but please don't copy the files and pass them off as your own work, don't sell the files, and don't sell the prints. Basically, the Golden Rule still applies!