How I plan to teach art to my kids:

Study one artist, period, culture, media or movement per term in three stages over twelve weeks, one hour per week.

Before the study starts:

collect books, websites etc. about the study subject. Collect the art consumables.

Consume & Copy –

Week one and two –View works of art relevant to the study and sketch one per week in art journal. Use the internet, books, prints, actual works etc. Read about the study subject (i.e. artist biographies, books about the historical or cultural context) and discuss subject with others. If you chose a subject that connects in with your other schoolwork (i.e. study Da Vinci when you are studying Renaissance) you can kill two birds with one stone! Continue reading and discussion throughout study.

Week three and four – make an “other media” copy of a favorite work (i.e. paint a copy of Van Gough’s Sunflowers on canvas, make a copy of a Turkish mosaic with cut out paper)

Compare & Contrast –

Week five and six– Compare two works within the study (e.g. Van Gough’s Sunflowers with his self portrait or a Turkish mosaic with a mosaic from the Taj Mahal). Paste printed out pictures from the internet etc in your art journal and write things that are the same and things that are different. Pay attention to lines, colour, subject matter, media, where things are placed (on the canvas, in the photo etc.). Write which you prefer and why.

Week seven and eight– compare one work from within the study with one that is not in the study but that uses similar topics or media or is from the same time period (e.g. Van Gough’s Sunflowers with a modern painting of sunflowers, DaVinci’s Last Supper with Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel). Paste printed out pictures from the internet etc in your art journal and write things that are the same and things that are different. Pay attention to lines, colour, subject matter, media, where things are placed (on the canvas, in the photo etc.). Write which you prefer and why.

Compose and exhibit–

Plan and create an artwork using a media or style or subject learned about. For example, paint an original canvass painting of a sunflower or create a mosaic using small tiles or photograph people posed in a Bible story scene. This is done over four weeks for a reason! An artist doesn't compose a work in an hour and then call it finished! Plan in the first week (sketch onto canvass, draw a plan etc) then do over the next week(s). If it doesn't work, there is time to do over the next week. If you are all finished early you can invite someone around the next week to show them the artistic creation! If you aren't, just put it on display in the home.

Suggested 6 year cycle for non/early readers

Year One - Ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Roman

Year Two - Monastery calligraphy and iconography, Islamic art (Turkey, northern Africa), mosaics

Year Three - Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Japanese Art

Year Four - Spanish art, Monet, Van Gough

Year Five - local art galleries, photography, Picasso

Year Six - Aboriginal Art, Australian Colonial Art, Australian Iconography

This is all rough and elastic and is built to go with our lifestyle and planned history studies etc. Just thought I'd share!