Puddle Jumping: TOS Review: ARTistic Pursuits

I was asked to review Sculpture Technique: Construct from ARTistic Pursuits. The paperback, plastic spiral-bound book is intended for students ages 11-18.

Sculpture Technique: Construct sells for $47.95. It is 83 pages thick and filled with beautiful colorful pictures and step-by-step instructions as well as information about specific sculpture art designs at the beginning of each new lesson. The book is bound with a black plastic spiral style binder with a clear plastic cover overlay.

The Sculpture Technique: Construct book includes 4 units:

Unit 1 - Creating Form in Papermaking
Unit 2 - Creating Planes in Cardboard
Unit 3 - Creating Motion with Papier-mâché
Unit 4 - Creating Volume with Wire

The units include lessons that explain a variety of art or architectural concepts relating to sculpture and papermaking along with hands-on projects. At the end of each lesson, there is an Evaluation which sums up what was taught before moving on to the next section.

The back of the book includes templates, answers to the unit evaluations, a course description with suggested credit hours, and a classroom schedule.

HOW IT WAS USED IN OUR HOMESCHOOL:

I read through the lessons first so I knew what was going to be covered before I introduced it to my 12 year old daughter and my 13 year old son. Plus, I wanted to make sure that I had all of the required materials.

At the start of each new project, the book listed everything that was needed for that lesson's project. Whatever is not commonly found around the house or in an art supply store, the book specifically listed where they could be purchased. The only items I didn't already have were a papermaking form and wire.

These sculpture lessons started with a unit on papermaking and creating forms out of the homemade paper. The first lessons explained 2D and 3D art. It continued with instructions for making our own paper. The following lessons in the first unit involved sculpture making using the homemade paper.

I used our kitchen household blender since the ingredients required to be blended together to make paper were just forms of paper or fabric and water - Nothing that seemed harmful or that couldn't be washed afterwards.

The process of homemade papermaking was so easy. The book explained it well, too.

I tore up a coupon booklet and cut a few strips of orange fabric that we had on hand. I really like the coloring this combination created, and the long orange strips are fabric that will help to hold the paper together as it dries. As one strip of paper was sitting to dry, it was fun to create various textures.

Next step was to add some color by using strips of colored construction paper.

This was also a great time to experiment with thickness and textures.

Forming the petals for a poinsettia, even though this one is green, was very hands-on and led into the next step of creating a cactus sculpture.

The next unit continued in the art of sculpture constructing by introducing textures of cardboard and creating planes using cardboard. The remaining two units in the book cover Papier-mâché and finishes off with a big project of constructing a sculpture using wire to form the base of the structure. The wire-based sculpture is actually introduced in the first unit when the book shows steps to cover a wire figure with homemade paper, but the final unit moves it into a larger scale use with wire while also suggesting other bases for sculpture constructing along the way, such as recycled soda bottles or milk jugs.

DID WE LIKE IT?

In a word - Yes! These projects were very fun and well explained, making them easy to follow. But, the book didn't just present project after project filled with instruction after step-by-step instruction. It also gave a great background and overview of each new concept while allowing for creative artistic expression from each individual student.

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ARTistic Pursuits also offers several other art curriculum books for K-12 homeschool art. Some of the other books include: