The Usborne Art Treasury :: Education by Design Store

Customer Reviews

Perfect mix of art and art history!

2008-06-08
This book is wonderful! I am planning to use it as an art/art history curriculum for my kindergarten-age daughter in the fall, and I can hardly wait to get started! The book includes art by 22 artists from better-known van Gogh, Degas, and Picasso to lesser-known 20th-century artists and unknown African mask makers and Iranian tile artists. One work of art by each artist is showcased along with brief, interesting history about the piece and the artist. On the next page spread, there is detailed instructions for creating art using similar techniques to those of the artist. There is a fairly wide scope of projects--acrylics, pastels, water color techniques along with more projects like mask making, sculpture, mobile making, block painting and others.

The book is colorful and beautifully illustrated. While I like all of the Usborne art books, this one stands out particularly because the pieces become inspiration for the child's creativity. The necessary supplies for the projects are very simple. I consider myself to have a fairly limited craft closet, but I have every item called for in the book. I think its content is a little advanced for kindergarten, but I plan to keep it "low pressure and experimental." I think this book would be a great resource up through elementary school.

Art History and Projects

2008-02-09
22 Works of art from around the world followed by projects.Cascading Style Sheets: The Designer's Edge

great examples

2007-12-18
This book has great examples of working from master works of art. Great for classroom examples.

Beautiful paintings and fun art projects for kids to relate

2007-10-31
Really beautiful sample of paintings, prints, sculptures, etc... Although my child is too young to read, we selected a few pieces of art she was interested in, and I read it to her.
If your young child watches 'Little Einstein', this book is great because some of the art pieces showcased in the cartoon are in this book. And, the book has extra tidbits about the piece and the artist, which gives the art an extra dimension and something for my child to think about when she sees the works of art in Little Einstein.
The projects suggested or inspired by each art work are also really neat. You could make it work for any age since there is a different project for each art piece.

My only minor gripe is that some of the paintings are folded in the binding since the book is not an extra large size. This takes a bit away from the 'wow' factor of the pieces.

fun to use

2007-09-16
all the Usborne books are good. the pictures are large and colorful and the directions are simple and clear.