Which Book?
We've designed the ARTistic Pursuits curriculum so that your child can jump in at their age level. Three, four, and five-year-olds will enjoy the very short Picture Talks and then head off to enjoy delightful awareness activities and experience simple art materials in The Way They SEE It. Kindergarten, first, second, and third graders will excell in their understanding of art through history in 6-8 minute lessons followed by active creating. We also have many 4th, 5th, and 6th graders join in those lessons along with their younger siblings. When you want the family to do art together, the K-3rd grade books meet the requirements for enriching and informative text, while exploring a wide variety of materials. 4th and 5th graders who are ready to learn to draw more realistically are ready for our 4th - 5th grade books in drawing and color theory. Middle School and High School students find the fundamental elements and color theory information that they need in books at their levels, but written to appeal to their interests and abilities. No matter where their skills are currently, as each student applies the element of art to their work, they will see improvement in their art.
Which Edition?
Are you tempted to purchase used books on eBay or Amazon? First get to know what you will find with older editions of ARTistic Pursuits. While other titles go out-of-print or second editions get watered-down in the rewrite, our titles have improved with each new edition.
1999 to 2007 Did you know that 1999 to 2007 editions used separate art prints for the master works? These packets are often missing from second hand books when you purchase these first editions online. Since ARTistic Pursuits lessons rely heavily on the master works as a teaching tool, you will not be able to teach without the art prints. Prints are not replaceable because the company that produced them has been out of business for about ten years. The prints were just 5 x 7 inches and many only available in black and white so we were happy to move forward with better reproductions in future editions.
2008 editions brought about a great improvement because the master works were printed right onto the pages of the books. Many lessons were changed due to the availability of new works of art by Dover Publications. More color works were included. Art history and artist biography pages were added to all 4-12 level books.
2013 In the 2013 editions we continued the trend toward an improved product. We expanded the K-3 books to 36 lessons, from the original 24! We expanded the 4-12 books to 68 lessons, from the original 64. Special four-step pages demonstrated how to use art materials, as that was the most common request that we heard. These are our best coil bound editions and are still being sold on this site for those who cannot use Blu-ray and DVDs.
2018 In a further effort to help everyone succeed in bringing art into their home, we now offer a hardcover book with Blu-ray and DVD. This is by far our best product and one you won't want to miss out on. The Kindergarten-3rd grade level was expanded by a full year, offering four years of art study, compared to the three years in the 2013 editions. Video lessons show how to use art materials, completing our goal of making art accessible to everyone. The two-page spread of the hardcover books allows us the opportunity to show the master works often as a full page. This makes it easier to observe and explore the details in the work. New sources for master works by the National Gallery of Art, Washington became available for this edition and more great paintings were added, making these books the most beautiful yet! If you still have questions about what is right for your family, just ask us.