On Teaching Art

One of the many "beauties" of Charlotte Mason's philospohy for education is that it includes Art.

First, there is the artistic "bent" to Charlotte Mason's methods -- sketching, watercolor painting, pastels, colored pencils, and pen and ink drawing (and more) employed most notably in Nature Journals, but also in Narrations and many other areas of study.

And then there are Handicrafts -- skills according to Charlotte Mason that are valuable in Real Life. These skills include knitting, sewing, crocheting, knot typing, leather work, carving, woodworking, and so much more.

But when speaking of "Art" as it was incorporated in Charlotte Mason's schools long ago, the intended study was of artists, and their greater and lesser works. And this study of "Art" is always a vital part of a true Charlotte Mason style education. I realize that this is not the Art-Class-Norm of today, which often is focused on 101 projects to do with paper plates, fingerpainting, toilet-paper tube construction, and other such projects. Projects such as these are (to me) Crafts. Crafts are great, but were likely not by any means "Art" to Charlotte Mason (nor are they in my humble opinion either).

These studies of Artists sadly seem to be disappearing from modern "school" education today - what a tragedy! In my own heart and mind, I cannot imagine a "complete" eduation without the admiration and basic familiarity with AT LEAST the Great Masters. How can one study history, literature, music, or even science without a basic understanding of Art -- true great art ??

When we began investigating Homeschooling, this Art focus recommended by Charlotte Mason appealed to me greatly of course !! But I will admit that I struggled the first year with this "subject" - how to teach art to "children". Would they "see" ? Could they "understand" ?? How would I share my LOVE of art with them ?? Unfortunately these questions (and the search for the answers) were put aside, and instead I focused on academics with all of the challenges facing a new homeschool Mom. However, I DID want to "include" artist studies but assumed any depth to these studies would come in the later years. Instead, I read all of the suggestions offered by Ambleside and in the various Charlotte Mason "style" resources, and we studied Art with these recommendations for our first year "at home". We learned some artists names, a bit about various mediums and styles, and recognized a few works "on sight". Atleast it was something, I thought. And it was better than "most" of the art that is being taught today. However, my heart did not rest -- even as we had learned about these beautiful things, the study itself felt very "isolated" and even "unrelated" to our lives and disassociated from our home eduation as a whole. And when short periods of time had passed, the lessons had been completely forgotten. The artist's place in their hearts and minds was disconnected - each study seemed to be an "end" rather than a "beginning". Our studies were not INSPIRING for the children .... they were purely academic in the "memorization" type sense. My own eduation taught that Art is meant to bring forth feeling and emotion, to inspire, to teach .... it is not meant to be filed in a "folder" in ones mind with a list of "to be remembered" trivia. Art is to be experienced and the children should form a "relationship" with the Work.

Back to the drawing board ....

I was discouraged, but was also inspired to try again. In our second homeschool year, we tried a new approach (and have used it ever since). We temporarily put aside the recommended Artist Rotation (although I do keep the vast quantities of resources from AO saved for future use by our family - these are great !) and took a detour from all of the suggestions available that I had read before. Going back to my own roots, instead we began to study artists that related to the period of history that we were studying. Bit by bit, Art moved INTO our studies ... became nearly a daily occurance, or discussion .... and gradually became PART of our education integrated into our other studies. We had successfully begun to form relationships with the artists and their Works.

How does this look today ?? When we study early Colonial United States History, we study artists from 1400-1600. And when we study the American Revolution, we study artists from that time period. We study artists and works from those "key" places in the world that we are studying. We go to Museums to see specific pieces that relate to our studies -- so as to incorporate them into relative studies and so that they "complete" or "fill out" our studies. This is to prevent Art from being "isolated", which eventually leads to being forgotten nearly completely (at least in our house). We focus on forming a relationship with the Artist or Work that we are studying, and this so far has proven to last in memories for quite some time, and hopefully forever (I can hope, right ?).

Our study of Artists through history has been incredible and vast, and is not nearly as difficult to "assemble" as one would think. But most importantly, it has brought forth INSPIRATION. We all have preferences and favorites, but this method of study pushes us routinely past those limitations into the discovery of new mediums, new methods, new periods and styles, new artists, and new works. It has been an amazing adventure so far and we are looking forward to more.

On a recent trip to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., -- to hear our children (talking to each other, to DadToCherubs, and one more than one occassion to total strangers) speaking of this painting or that sculpture and relating their impression as to "why" it is this way or that, or of how the "time" influenced this particular artist --- well, that was the goal; to have these studies relate to the "whole picture" of their education. What a blessing it was to hear them speak of what they know, and to discuss these works from such an "informed" perspective -- not only are these studies in their minds, but in their hearts as well. They have experienced ART, going beyond "like" and "dislike" into a relationship with the artists and the works, as well as the life and times surrounding them -- Art from history has added to their lives, to their hearts, and to their eduations.

**We also try to study Music and Composers in this manner as well, although it has proven to be much more complicated to find such a timeline to use as reference as this (below) one (not to mention that my own understanding and knowledge of music is grossly limited, so this does not help matters at all.)

The Met has a fantastic timeline of artists through all of history -- categorized by region, period, medium, and more. It has certainly been a favorite resource of our family !! It is with this site and with a few other books that I have been able to "plan" our studies in Art --- and it was so simple. Please check out this site --- perhaps your family can begin to experience Art too !!

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/splash.htm