Picture This!: Activities and Adventures in Impressionism (Art Explorers) [Hardcover]

Joyce Raimondo (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004 | Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up | Series: Art Explorers

This second book in the Art Explorers series introduces kids to the world of impressionism, featuring the art of five famous impressionist artists: Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edward Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Mary Cassatt. For each artist, a color reproduction of his or her famous artwork is paired with questions to get kids thinking about what they see. A short paragraph explains the artist's intentions, emphasizing facts of interest to kids. Easy-to-follow activities then provide hands-on experience with the artist's techniques, subject, and mediums, each illustrated with examples by actual kids. Techniques include drawing, painting, pastels, collage, watercolor resist painting, pointillism, sponge painting, mask-making, printmaking, sculpture, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 1-5 - With step-by-step activities, full-color reproductions, and examples of children's imitative art, this slim volume provides a creative and simple introduction to the Impressionists. After providing a bit of history about the movement, Raimondo introduces several artists and outlines their methods and contributions. For each individual, she presents a masterwork along with sentences that encourage children to look closely at it. This is followed by several easy projects that evoke that particular painter's style; they are designed to excite beginners with a wide range of media and interesting results. The text and activities describe Claude Monet's use of bright colors and brush strokes in his outdoor scenes; Camille Pissarro's city scenes and his use of light to indicate the weather and time of day; Edgar Degas's figures in motion; Pierre-Auguste Renoir's snapshotlike paintings of people having fun; and Mary Cassatt's family portraits. A "Notes to Adults" suggests ways to help youngsters explore the world of art, motivate creativity, and discover different media. Brief biographies of the painters are appended. A highly useful and entertaining book. - Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX
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From the Publisher

Winner of Learning Magazine’s 2006 Teachers’ Choice Award for children’s books

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Hardcover: 48 pages
• Publisher: Watson-Guptill (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823025039
• ISBN-13: 978-0823025039
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.4 x 10.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #70,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Art > History

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Young Readers Get Active with Impressionism, February 8, 2005

By 

Cheryl Mccann "Review-Books" (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Picture This!: Activities and Adventures in Impressionism (Art Explorers) (Hardcover)

It is an exploration in Impressionist paintings for young readers with art of Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Mary Cassatt and how-to fun activities (25 in all) such as:

**experiment and play with color

**painting outdoor scenes-storm, seaside, seasonal or garden

**try pointillism (dot to dot) using cotton balls

Included are interesting artist biographies of all five Impressionists mentioned above. Young readers will discover what is each artist's claim to fame. Who is the "father of Impressionism"? Who is the "leader of Impressionism"? Who is "known as one of the world's greatest artists"? Who is the "painter of happiness"? What city is common to all of these artists"?

PICTURE THIS! is designed to help young readers develop appreciation of art and their own interpretations. In addition, it helps to develop creative critical thinking and to "encourage different opinions." Children can experiment with different creative media such as pastels, abstract painting, watercolor, and plastic foam printing to mention only a few that are included.

PICTURE THIS! is an excellent introduction to Impressionist art and encouragement for creative ideas in young artists. I especially like the "Try this, too!" ideas to spark ideas that get the creative juices flowing.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Children Responding to Impressionism, March 8, 2005

By 

Rick M. Mcgarry "Livingston Parent Journal" (Fowlerville, MI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Picture This!: Activities and Adventures in Impressionism (Art Explorers) (Hardcover)

"What is a television... to man, who has only to shut his eyes to see the most inaccessible regions of the seen and the never seen?" Salvador Dali

"Do not proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you observe and feel." Camille Pissarro

"Nobody will give you freedom-you have to take it." Meret Oppenheim

"To be a Surrealist...means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been." Rene Magritte

Picture This and Imagine That introduce children to great artists, art concepts and allow them to become artists themselves. They are the first two books in the Art Explorers series. Picture This introduces Impressionism, Imagine That acquaints us with Surrealism. The books begin with a Note To Adults, telling how to help children explore that particular school of art. This is followed by a Note to Kids, introducing them to that school of art and to the book. This is followed by one work each from 5 or 6 artists that are representative of that particular school. Each work of art has accompanying kid-friendly information about the art and the artist, and discussion questions. Then there are a few pages of art projects, to allow the child to respond by experimenting with different techniques and materials. The instructions for the projects are clear and include illustrations of a work in progress, and examples of actual children's art projects. In the back there is a little additional information about each artist.

For example, after looking at Personal Values by Rene Magritte, children cut pictures out of a magazine to "Make a fantasy room where everyday things are seen in crazy mixed-up ways.". Step by step instructions are explained and illustrated. Several examples of completed projects by children 8-9 years old are included. The second project is a cut paper collage of "your own sky, where everything is mixed up and anything can float or fly". Again, there are two full pages of instructions and examples. These two projects require colored paper, glue, scissors, old magazines, and drawing materials. Of course some of the other projects will most likely involve a trip to the craft store, but some, like these, will not.

On afternoons when the weather is crummy and there is a space available in the house somewhere to make a controlled mess, you could probably scrounge up stuff to keep the kids amused for a little while with one of these projects.

These books are recommended for ages 5-12, but the nature of the projects is such that children of different ages can participate together in many of them.

You can see some of the author's work on line and explore modern art at www.moma.org/artsafari . Look at some examples of modern art, talk about the discussion questions, and play author or detective.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource, November 2, 2007

By 

L. Brenden "Teaching Artist" (Auburn, AL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Picture This!: Activities and Adventures in Impressionism (Art Explorers) (Hardcover)

I have used 2 of the author's books as catalyst to design an art unit to teach from. I have liked the two I had so well, that I have recently purchased the rest in the series.

The activities can be used with a wide variety of ages and abilities. With a little tweaking you can use them with about anyone. There is only one color picture as an example of the artist work and a very brief description of each featured author in the back. At first, I was going more into depth about each artist, but this little blurb is usually enough for most students. Much more information and no creating going on and they get off task.

I do however, check out a book or two from my local library so that I can show them other examples of the artists' works. Sometimes I print pictures from offline or show them art postcards as examples as well. Most of the pictures in the book are student samples, and my students seem to like looking at these better. The student samples are more on their level of ability; they also give them ideas on how to let the artist "inspire" them to do their own piece.

In all I would highly recommend all of the books in this series. The activities are easy to follow, and the books are fun and lively for the kids to look at. Yes, if you had a student or students who really wanted to study these artists closely, you would have to supplement this book with other things. But if like me you are just trying to expose them to different styles, periods and artists, then this series is a terrific find!