ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with Video Lessons {Product Review}

While our family isn't an "artsy" family, we still enjoying doing art projects. I have collected a whole host of supplies to handle just about any type of art lesson that comes our way. We have reviewed several art programs before, and have discovered that we really enjoy the curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits Inc.. This company recently released a new collection of ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray to give an additional aspect to their already fabulous art program. We have been reviewing Art of the Middle Ages from this collection over the last several weeks.

About ARTistic Pursuits

ARTistic Pursuits Inc. is an art curriculum company believing that all children are able to understand the concepts of art, and enjoy putting ideas and visual images on paper. They are committed to helping children become observant in our world and to be able to work creatively in it. They are determined to offer parents and children a quality art education presented in an easy to understand format for both the teacher and child and gear their books towards the homeschooling community.


Through their program, they encourage children to look at the expressive and technical aspects of art according to their age level. The goal is for the children to be able to be free to explore their world however they see it...not the way that adults think they should see it! There are no "rules" or "boundaries" in the art lessons--no small boxes or limitations. ARTistic Pursuits is all about letting them color outside the lines!

ARTistic Pursuits offer curriculum for Preschool to High School age making it easy for you to find a curriculum just right for your school age child.

The latest release from ARTistic Pursuits Inc., is a re-release of their K-3rd grade art instruction collection--this new collection WITH video lessons replaces their previous 2013 editions. These books include text lessons with picture study and video lessons on how to use the art materials. Each book comes with a DVD and a Blu-Ray for your convenience.

The following books are included in this collection:

Vol. 1 Art for Children, Building a Visual Vocabulary
Vol. 2 Art of the Ancients
Vol. 3 Art of the Middle Ages
Vol. 4 Artists that Shaped the Italian Renaissance
Vol. 5 Art of the Northern Countries, Renaissance to Realism
Vol. 6 Art of the Impressionists
Vol. 7 Art of the Modern Age (coming Summer 2018)
Vol. 8 Art in America (coming Summer 2018)

Each of these books is available for purchase alone, or with an art supply pack which will provide you with all the supplies needed to complete the book's projects.

We reviewed Vol. 3 Art of the Middle Ages which has 64 pages, 18 lessons, and 106 illustrations. The book covers art produced in the Middle Ages, from the early Migration Period to the Gothic architecture of France. The students will be introduced to the ideology of the period and methods for making art. The lesson includes twelve text lessons featuring artworks by medieval masters and six video lessons featuring art material instruction. Throughout the lessons in this book, the students will work with colored paper, needlework, weaving, and oil pastels.

Our Thoughts on ARTistic Pursuits

A few things that I was impressed with right away with using this product: it was hardbound, thin, and the DVD/Blu-Ray were attached inside the book! Previous copies of ARTistic Pursuits curriculum has been a thick book which can seem intimidating. This book was visually engaging and I was eager to dive in. The pages are also a glossy print with full color images. All the video lessons are clearly labelled and the DVD pulls up a menu with each of the video lessons labeled for easy navigation.

Love having both of these right in the book

Nothing fancy---right to the point and easy to navigate

each of the video lessons is clearly marked

The best way to get started with these books is to look over the list of supplies that you will need. For this book, a lot of it is household items (foil, paper towels, tape, yarn, ect), but there are some specialty items needed like Gesso, gold acrylic paint, Mod Podge, chipboard...etc. I recommend looking at the materials list included in the book before getting started. Fortunately, we have reviewed enough art programs that i have collected 90% of these items and can just jump right in to the curriculum.

I dove right in the book--beginning with reading the introduction to the Medieval World and then watching Video #1 for Lesson 1 with my youngest (age 7). This video shows us how to cut, weave, and paste paper strips on a paper loom...a skill that is referenced throughout the book. The student is encouraged to learn this skill before moving on to the actual project for Lesson 1 (a woven paper crown). I loved how the video began with an "actor" doing something from the era as an introduction.

an introduction to the medieval world

Clear directions for the art projects

We opted to go ahead and weave a mat like the video demonstrated to get an idea of how the weaving process works. My son enjoyed this very much actually.

He picked up on the skill quickly. He told me "apparently, this wasn't meant for a 7 year old." LOL. Once this was done, we moved on to make the crown project.

We have been working through about 1 lesson per week and are gearing up for our next video lesson which will teach us about Panel Painting and using watercolor crayons!

Here are some photos of some of the projects we have worked on...

Weaving two animals together

Initial Page

Paper Mosaic Tractor

I am personally looking forward to the sections all about textiles! I think he'll enjoy doing the stitching portions of these!

These books are smaller in size than the ones they are replacing (one that I have reviewed in the past actually), but they are just as excellent. I also find that the addition of the video lessons really adds to the program. You will still need the same supplies, but the book is smaller and hardcover, making it easier to store. 

This program is incredibly easy to follow and very very interesting! I still recommend it to anyone desiring to teach multiple elementary grades at one time with interesting art projects. Although we will be setting it aside the rest of the summer, we will probably be adding it in to our school year this fall.

Want to Know More About ARTistic Pursuits?

For the last several weeks, we have been reviewing Art of the Middle Ages from the ARTistic Pursuits Art Instruction Books with DVD and Blu-Ray series from ARTistic Pursuits Inc.. There were several other books in this series that my review crew worked on and I hope you will check out their reviews as well.

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We have really enjoyed this series. I like the extra aspect of having the video lessons. I also like the LENGTH of this book and think it is much more doable for families. Once again we reaffirm our love for ARTistic Pursuits!