How Artists See 4-Book Set II: Work/Play/Families/America

by Colleen Carroll

Overview

The classic How Artists See series that opens children’s eyes to the world as seen by great artists, now available in boxed sets perfect for home or classroom. Includes: Work, Play, Families, and America

With over 200,000 copies in print, the How Artists See series has introduced thousands of children to the timeless visions of some of the world’s most celebrated artists. Now all twelve books in this remarkable series are available in boxed sets of four and six volumes, making it easy for parents, grandparents and teachers alike to build a meaningful art library designed especially for young minds.

In How Artists See children learn about the world by looking at art and about art by looking at the world. Each volume presents sixteen diverse works of art devoted to a subject familiar to children through their own experience, organized into four subcategories for better comparison and contrast. Author Colleen Carroll engages readers with open-ended questions about the works, stimulating their thoughts, building their visual literacy and communication skills, and expanding their own artistic imaginations. For children curious to learn more about the artists featured, short biographies are provided at the end of each volume, along with suggestions for further reading and a list of museums where the artists works can be seen.

Handsomely packaged in sturdy slipcased sets, these classic books make ideal gifts for the home and essential resources for the classroom. As teaching tools they are especially versatile, being readily adaptable to grades K-6 and intersecting with disciplines as various as literature, history, science, and social studies through the many activities detailed in the series Teachers’ Guide (available separately). Whether poring over Matisse’s goldfish, Jacob Lawrence’s Olympic athletes, or Hiroshige’s moonlit cityscapes, readers of How Artists See will delight in discovering how the world can be transformed by great artists’ creativity—and their own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780789209658
Publisher:	Abbeville Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/06/2008
Series:	How Artists See Series
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 7.20(d)
Age Range:	6 - 12 Years

About the Author

Colleen Carroll is an educational consultant for MTV, USA Today, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, Black Entertainment Television, CNBC, Channel One, and The Edison Project. She previously taught sixth grade in California and now lives in New York.

Read an Excerpt

How Artists See Set II

Work / Play / Families / America

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By Colleen Carroll

Abbeville Kids

Copyright © 2008 Colleen Carroll
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7892-0965-8

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Excerpt from: How Artists See Play

Note to Parents and Teachers

As an elementary school teacher I had the opportunity to show my students many examples of great art. I was always amazed by their enthusiastic responses to the colors, shapes, subjects, and fascinating stories of the artists lives. It wasn't uncommon for us to spend an entire class period looking at and talking about just one work of art. By asking challenging questions, I prompted the children to examine and think very carefully about the art, and then quite naturally they would begin to ask all sorts of interesting questions of their own. These experiences inspired me to write this book and the other volumes in the How Artists See series.

How Artists See is designed to teach children about the world by looking at art, and about art by looking at the world through the eyes of great artists. The books encourage children to look critically, answer—and ask—thought-provoking questions, and form an appreciation and understanding of an artist's vision. Each book is devoted to a single subject so that children can see how different artists have approached and treated the same theme and begin to understand the importance of individual style.

Because I believe that children learn most successfully in an atmosphere of exploration and discovery, I've included questions that encourage them to formulate ideas and responses for themselves. And because peoples reactions to art are based on their own personal aesthetic, most of the questions are open-ended and have more than one answer. If you're reading aloud to your children or students, give them ample time to look at each work and form their own opinions; it certainly is not necessary to read the whole book in one sitting. Like a good book or movie, art can be enjoyed over and over again, each time with the possibility of revealing something that wasn't seen before.

You may notice that dates and other historical information are not included in the main text. I purposely omitted this information in order to focus on the art and those aspects of the world it illustrates. For children who want to learn more about the artists whose works appear in the book, short biographies are provided at the end, along with suggestions for further reading and a list of museums where you can see additional works by each artist.

After reading How Artists See Play, children can do a wide variety of related activities to extend and reinforce all that they've learned. In addition to the simple activities I've suggested throughout the main text, they can design and create a toy or board game, put on a play, or organize a neighborhood field day that includes their favorite sports. Since the examples shown here are just a tiny fraction of the great works of art that feature play as their subject, children can go on a scavenger hunt through museums and the many art books in your local library to find other images of play.

I hope that you and your children or students will enjoy reading and rereading this book and, by looking at many styles of art, discover how artists share with us their unique ways of seeing and depicting our world.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from How Artists See Set II by Colleen Carroll. Copyright © 2008 Colleen Carroll. Excerpted by permission of Abbeville Kids.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents from:
How Artists See Work

Farm
Factory
Office
Home
Note to Parents and Teachers
Artists' Biographies
Suggestions for Further Reading
Where to See the Artists' Work
Credits

Table of Contents from:
How Artists See Play

Sports
Games
Toys
Imagination
Note to Parents and Teachers
Artists' Biographies
Suggestions for Further Reading
Where to See the Artists' Work
Credits

Table of Contents from:
How Artists See Families

Mother
Father
Sister
Brother
Note to Parents and Teachers
Artists' Biographies
Suggestions for Further Reading
Where to See the Artists' Work
Credits

Table of Contents from:
How Artists See America

East
South
Midwest
West
Note to Parents and Teachers
Artists' Biographies
Suggestions for Further Reading
Where to See the Artists' Work
Credits

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the
How Artists See
series:

"Carroll's series…eclipses the competition…How Artists See has the makings of a classic—a core experience for budding art enthusiasts to build on." — Publishers Weekly

"Wow! If you have been looking for a way to get children interested in art, call off the search, it just doesn't get any better than this." — Children's Literature Choice List

"…These are first-rate art appreciation guides for adults and young children together, or older readers alone." — Children's Literature Review

"With wonderful symmetry and utter simplicity, each volume presents sixteen works of art [that] capture the feeling of seeing works of art in a museum. The text reads as the dialogue a child and adult might have as they stroll through a museum gallery. These books hold treasures for the eyes, heart, and mind." — Hungry Minds

From the Publisher