ARTistic Pursuits High School art program -- my REVIEW

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

I'll be the first to admit that I am not very art-y. I love art, I appreciate art, I do like creating art, but I am not really one for great historical art appreciation and I feel that I am greatly lacking in traditional art skill expressions (like drawing, painting, etc). Second to that, my children are in high school, and with art not "required" for our high school curricula (we DO include music, don't get crazy on me!), it tends to fall a bit back burner when compared to science and math. I have had the opportunity to review and use in our homeschool programs a few art curricula lately, and this latest one, ARTistic Pursuits High School 9-12 Book One, The Elements of Art and Composition really appeals to us. It is a spiral bound book from Artistic Pursuits Inc. that students can work through, with the schedule of one lesson (broken into two one-hour lessons for high schoolers) per week.

The lessons include technique and discussions of different elements of art and how they make a more effective piece of art or more clear communication of what the artist wishes to communicate. There are historical/fine arts type examples and explanations of different techniques, how they fit into art-historical contexts, different artists who use/used different styles, and more. Each lesson gives the student an assignment to allow them to practice one of the skills or techniques which is being taught in the lesson. There are quotes which enhance the student's art experiences. It's quite easy to read and interesting! Often there is a "student gallery" example of a student's art work which goes along with the lesson.

The student gallery is nice, as it is great to see
what other students have drawn, a
nd makes the creating of the student's own art
a little less intimidating! :) 

The lessons are written very clearly and the illustrations enhance the narrative.

Okay, so I already told you up top that we like this art program :) I'm going to give you some reasons for that statement! My 15 year old daughter was the student to use this program in our family. The very first thing that stood out to her was that she was treated as a high schooler. Many art programs begin by addressing the student as if they have never taken an art course before, or even never held a pencil before! Now, we are not artists here, but that does tend to annoy a bit :) So this program was a hit from the start!

The student is making drawings all along, using the different techniques which are taught in each lesson. We really liked the focus on the light and dark lines and using those to draw different parts of a picture. The students had opportunities to draw things from around the house as well as to illustrate things.

obviously...scissors :) 

Illustration of the "St. George and the Dragon" story

"squirrel"

There are great tips and quotes and little information bits throughout each lesson, from seemingly-obvious reminders like don't let your pencils fall, it will break the graphite; to detailed objectives, such as this one in the texture chapter, "Objectives: to understand firsthand how experiencing an object allows the artist to know it in deeper, non-visual ways. The student should notice details beyond what was formerly noticed."

Great-grandpa!
The photo on the left is the one she used
to create this awesome drawing!

Okay, so I've been saving for last my daughter's most proud accomplishment thus far. There are several lessons which have the student draw a face. I'm guessing that you have said before, as she said also, "I just can't draw faces!" Well...she followed along and drew a picture of her great-grandfather from a picture--and later that day she showed it to her dad, without telling him who it is, and asked him who he thought it looked like, and he said, right away, "That's my grandpa!" So that was pretty gratifying for her and encouraging her to do more art with this great high school art program book from Artistic Pursuits. They actually have many other art courses, not just this high school one, and there are other reviews from different levels of the course linked to the graphic below. I'd recommend you click on the graphic and check out some other reviews of this course and think about using it in your homeschool for next year!