(Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way).

I agree with the above statement and I should know, since my son and husband have enthusiastically completed sculpture projects from ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. for the past three years. Thus, you can probably imagine that I was excited when I was asked to review ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model.


Speaking of which…Since my son has been working through ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction for 3 years, I will be discussing both products which are designed with 6-12 graders in mind.

My son, who is 15, has been into sculpting since he was in kindergarten. So three years ago when I came across ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture books, I was immediately Interested. Three years ago, we started with the Construction (even though my son preferred the Model) because it made the most sense.

This year, being part of the Homeschool Review Crew gave me the awesome opportunity to grab the Model book. So, we spent the past several weeks working on the awesome projects contained within ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model.

We have been taking our time and haven’t completed the Construction book. But that’s okay, because it’s not necessary to do everything in order. My son and husband have done most of the projects together. Below are a few examples from ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction:

ARTistic Pursuits - Sculpture

Handmade Paper

Handmade Paper and Wire

Shockwave from Transformers


The previous pictures show the different projects that involved handmade paper. My son and husband made the paper according to the directions in the first Unit of ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Construction. They made a bunch of different colored sheets, but they’ve used most of them!

The past few weeks we have been working with hard putty and air dry clay.

ARTistic Pursuits - Sculpture

Hard Putty shapes.

Rock Hard Water Putty Still Figure – Graboid from movie “Tremors.”

Rock Hard Water Putty – Still Figure, Trout.

Air dry clay – Harley Quinn

Air-Dry Clay – pot using rib tool to add texture

The best thing about working with different media is that you learn the strengths and weaknesses of each.

The first thing we learned almost immediately is that hard putty is completely different from clay. For example, the hard putty dried quickly. In fact, it dried more quickly than the time we thought we had. We also learned that with hard putty, it is extremely important to use the exact amount of water the recipe calls for. We discovered the hard way that one of our measuring cups is inaccurate. This was a good thing to know and is all part of the learning process. (See pictures above).

My husband and son created three different kinds of products. The first was thicker and dried almost immediately. The second type of project involved using newspaper, masking tape, and then painting with a thinner version of the hard putty. The third was a figure in motion and also involved wire. The second and third projects were lighter than expected.

When you work with hard putty, you’ll learn how easy it is to create rough edges so it definitely takes practice to get a really top notch product. But I think my son and my husband did a great job.

You can see the last couple of pictures are air dry projects. We had to wait quite a while to get the Gesso. So they didn't paint the air-dry projects right away. But this weekend they were able to do the gesso and some painting.

Based on the way the painted items turned out, I would say that gesso is extremely important to the quality of the finished product. (See pictures below). For example, the shininess you’re seeing is from the paint alone. In my experience, when you paint clay with acrylic paint, you don’t get the shine. I did not realize how important gesso is. We’ve never used it before because we didn’t realize how much it improves the final product.

Artistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique Model

Pots with Gesso Only

Harley with Gesso covering face plus other “Strange Guy”

Painted bowl

Painted pot

This looks like an Alien head, but was not intentional.

Air Dry Clay ARTistic Pursuits

Painted Harley Head

Bottom line with ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model is that the instructions are clear, the pictures are really helpful and are given as part of the instructions. Also, the units contain review questions for kids to answer upon completion of all projects. Templates are also included as well. ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model includes everything a student needs to earn high school credit, if needed. This is icing on the cake, in my opinion, because regardless of whether the course is taken for credit or not, you students will add hours and hours of enrichment to their daily lives, as they work through the exercises.

To find out more about ARTistic Pursuits Sculpture Technique, Model as well as other ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. products, click here. 

Brenda from ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. has just notified us that she added a couple new art courses. So, if you have K-3 grade budding artists, Click here now.

AND, if you have children who love to draw, click here for some awesome FREE drawing videos.

To check out the other awesome reviews of ARTistic Pursuits, Inc. products, click here.

 

Art Through The Ages & Art for Children {Artistic Pursuits Inc. Reviews}

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