Art Lab for Little Kids: 52 Playful Projects for Preschoolers: Volume 2

Description

As in Susan Schwake's first book, Art Lab for Kids (Quarry Books, 2012), the Labs can be used as singular projects, or used to build up to a year of hands-on fine art experiences. Each Lab also features the work of a prominent artist for inspiration. The book begins with an introduction on materials and setting up a space for making art. The lessons that follow are open-ended to be explored over and over - with different results each time. They are geared for children being taught or guided by adults and are successful on all levels of experience and age. They do not result in 'cookie cutter' end products, but are a method of learning something new each time they are used. This motivational book stands out as a unique reference for creating fine art with children through finding the student's own voice, marks and style and with playful lessons that result in significant skill building. Gorgeous photography shows different results from different people using the same lesson, exemplifying the way the lesson brings out each artist's personal style. Art Lab for Little Kids is a fresh source of creative activities for families and community groups or will work as lesson plans for both experienced and new art teachers in home school, preschool, and kindergarten environments.

Susan Schwake is an artist, art educator, author, and curator. Her passion for teaching art for more than 20 years has found her working in many diverse settings, as well as her own art school, which operates in conjunction with their gallery and design firm in New Hampshire, called artstream. Susan exhibits her own artwork in galleries in the United States and Europe. To date, she has curated over 100 compelling contemporary exhibitions in her own gallery with hundreds of national and international artists' work. Susan has worked with many corporations installing original artwork from the gallery's stable of artists.In keeping with her passion for art and teaching, Susan has offered, and continues to offer, workshops and programs to parents, teachers at universities, art studios, community organisation, public and private schools, and most recently online with e-courses in teacher training, painting, printmaking and mixed media. Rainer Schwake is a versatile and talented media designer holding a masters degree in graphic design. His photography has been used in hundreds of business- and arts-related design works for print and websites. He is co-owner of artstream studios (www.artstreamstudios.com) and lives with his wife, Susan, in Rochester, NH.

"Art Lab for Little Kids author, susan Schwake, follows her wildly successful, Art Lab for Kids with another solid hit - a clear, simple guide to exploring art with small children that parents and teachers will delight in." - Rebecca Emberley, Best-selling children's book author and illustrator "Based on the ideas and images of master artists, these art activities and experiences are developmentally appropriate, adventurous, imaginative, and thoroughly engaging while leading to the creation of artworks with meaning and significance. Art Lab for Little Kids is an important contribution to the literature of the often-overlooked field of visual arts education for preschool children." - Bill Haust, Professor Emeritus of Art Education, Plymouth State University "I love Susan's Art Lab series and reference them in the Art Studio often. They're easy to follow, full of images, and directed at open-ended exploration - exactly the kind of reference I need for my own busy home." - Meghan Burch, Art Studio Educator, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst, MA