I received this complimentary product through the Homeschool Review Crew.
My children enjoy art, and I love that it’s hand’s on an important life skill in many areas from website design to interior design, not to mention that learning the skills makes it even more enjoyable and something that can be done for relaxation and inspiration throughout life. Over the past several weeks my children have been learning new skills from Creating a Masterpiece through the Art History Program.
What We Received
We received 7 months access to the online Art History Program, which currently includes 35 art history projects in the following categories:
- Styles of Art in History (ages 5+)
- Historically Themed Projects (ages 6+)
- Exploring the Art of Yesterday (ages 13+)
- Capstone Project (masterpiece level)
Each art project is broken down into 1 to 7 lessons, which makes each project easy to follow and not overwhelming for students. Some projects can be completed in a day, while others will require more time for paint to dry between lessons.
What You’ll Need
Your teacher, Sharon Hofer, will provide you with all the skills you will need, but you will need to provide all of the art supplies yourself. To make things easy if you are in the USA, for each project she links through to a company where all the supplies can be purchased and automatically placed in your cart. We’re in the UK, and we can usually source most items online or in art supply shops in Belfast.
As we’ve mentioned in previous Creating A Masterpiece reviews, it’s optimal to use as high a quality of art products as you can in order for students to know how to use them and achieve the best results. Each time my children take an art class I make a purchase and we slowly build up their supplies this way over time.
Click here for more Homeschool Art Classes For All Ages
This time is was supplies for the pouring paint picture. I may purchase more supplies before the end of the year, but in the meantime, my children have been working on pieces using the supplies which we already have; acrylics, pencil crayons, and markers, to date, although they also have soft pastels, charcoal, and tombow markers for more projects. Some of the other items that may be used in the art history projects are oil paints, inks, printmaking items, clay, glass etching, and faux stained glass supplies.
Art History Projects In Action
Traditionally, I would sit along with my children and we would all create masterpieces together. However, I haven’t been feeling well recently, and Creating A Masterpiece is well set up for students to do it on their own. My children have completed dozens of Sharon’s projects in the past 4 years (with Kallista even winning a competition with a project!), so they’ve been working on these projects totally on their own over the past 5.5 weeks, from prep to clean up.
Each project is divided into short video lessons. The first lesson is an overview of the project, the supplies needed, and the techniques that will be learned. Always watch this video before you begin so that you will have everything you will need, and sometimes extra tips that come in very handy. This intro video is only a couple of minutes long.
The remaining videos range from maybe 3-10 minutes long. These make them easy to digest for young (and not-so-young learners. The breaks are at logical points where students can then take a break and stretch and rest their eyes, or at points at which a layer of paint may need to dry before returning for the next stage of the project.
Some projects are easily done in one sitting for my children, while others took a few days. Some of the projects they did together, while others they worked on separately. Although they may have started off doing different projects, often once one finished a project, they other child would then like the finished product and then do it, too.
Kallista also loves to put her own spin on art, which is also encouraged by Sharon. As you’ll see, she enjoyed some of these projects so much she did them again, adding her own flourish to them.
What Do We Think About These Art History Projects
We wouldn’t have volunteered to review this program if we didn’t already know its value. I like to see my children relaxing and doing something fun and not traditionally academic, which is important for a well-rounded education. Creating a Masterpiece classes (any of the options available) would be a good addition to both homeschoolers or any family that has a child interested in art, or would like their children to learn more about it. We’ve used many art programs over the years, and this is our favourite by far.
Creating a Masterpiece Pros
- With the variety of projects, mediums, and levels of difficulty, there’s something for everyone from kindergarten upwards, in many areas of interest, both in history and style.
- The lessons are easy to follow, broken down into bite-size pieces.
- Using quality products, children learn to feel confident in their skills and have high quality art pieces upon completion that they take pride in.
- Sharon Hofer’s instruction is encouraging.
- The techniques learned can be applied in other areas from everyday drawing to 3D design on the computer – art skills can be used everywhere.
Art History Project Con
What I would have like to have seen was a little background to the history of the time period attached to each art history project. However, Sharon concentrates on what she does best: teaching art. She is teaching the techniques used in the art of the different periods so students can apply them to their own creations, which on its own is just fine. If you’d like to learn about art in history, the different artists, etc., then you could use this class to supplement a history or culture class.
More About Creating A Masterpiece
Click here to read 29 reviews about the Art History Program by the Homeschool Review Crew and see all the various projects that were completed and how it worked for other families. If you’re interested in purchasing this product, homeschooling families should contact Creating a Masterpiece directly to enquire about special rates.
Connect with Creating A Masterpiece on social media:
More Posts With Creating A Masterpiece
We have used and reviewed Creating a Masterpiece in the past as well, using different areas of the Sharon’s program; each offers something different. You can read more about them in these posts:
