The Usborne Art Treasury

This book could make a wonderful art program for younger students, incorporating both art appreciation and projects in a beautiful, easy to use format. The book features 22 impressive works of art from around the world and from a variety of periods. Each work is shown on a spread of pages along with a few short, interesting paragraphs of information about the work itself, the techniques used, and the artist who created it. Then you flip the page to see how you can imitate that work and style using simple materials and methods. For example, the first work highlighted is Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” After looking at the painting and reading about it, you turn to the next page, which has step-by-step directions to help you make your own swirly landscape using thick paints and a plastic fork. In six steps you go from drawing a simple landscape sketch, adding color, and using the fork to manipulate the paint into swirly patterns like those found in Van Gogh’s painting. The end products are very attractive, and completing the projects will help students remember the distinctive styles of the artists they’ve studied. The projects pages are very colorful and offer beautiful illustrations of the finished projects to give students a visual aid. Throughout the 22 works/projects, students will be introduced to 3-D art, paintings, abstract art, prints, collages, Chinese brush painting, and other styles/types of art for a well-rounded but fun early art education. Hc, 96 pgs.