Art Appreciation: South African Art

Alexis2023-05-25T10:00:13-04:00

Notice of Discontinuation (Posted 5/25/23)

Please note: This course will no longer be offered as of July 25, 2023. If you are currently taking this course, please be sure to download all necessary materials before this date. If you would like to explore other Art options, please check out our Homeschool Art Curriculum page.

Welcome to Our Art Appreciation: South African Art for Kids Homeschool Curriculum

Which South African artist created his own imaginary island, complete with maps, language, animals, and coins? How does one artist use scrap metal to portray poverty in his hometown? Find out when you study Art Appreciation: South African Art with your children! Explore the elements of art as portrayed by eighteen modern South African artists. Learn to apply art terminology in the context of analyzing unique works of art!

Getting Started with Our Art Appreciation: South African Art For Kids Homeschool Curriculum

This African art for kids homeschool course focuses on eighteen South African artists from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Art appreciation lessons begin by asking: “How do we look at art?” They then go on to explore the language and elements of art such as line, shape, mass, light, shade, space, texture, and color, as well as aspects of composition such as rhythm, focal points, and balance. These African art for kids lessons can be completed in any order. Students may wish to study the entire eighteen homeschool art lessons or pick and choose artists and styles that interest them most. The Art Appreciation: South African Art course is designed for ages 6 to 12 but may also be enjoyed by older students who are looking for an introduction to art appreciation.

Overview

18 weeks, 1 day a week
Includes downloadable text-based lessons with images
Grades 4-7

Supplies Needed

Corresponding lessons on SchoolhouseTeachers.com; journal for note-taking

What to Do

Go to Class Lessons and download the lesson plan, as well as the lesson file for the selected artist or complete lesson file. Start with the Day 1 assignment. Follow the instructions each day on the lesson plan and check them off when completed.

Course Sample for Our Art Appreciation: South African Art For Kids Homeschool Course

To view a full sample of this class, click here.

How do we LOOK AT AFRICAN ART FOR KIDS?

We start by asking simple questions like: who is the artist, when and where did he or she live and create the artwork, what is the subject matter, and what is the medium? Having that as basics, we can move on to analyze the work itself according to the art appreciation vocabulary.

GETTING TO KNOW THE ELEMENTS OF AFRICAN ART

What then is the LANGUAGE, or ELEMENTS, of ART? We look at line, shape and mass, light and shade, space, texture, and color. Each of these, in turn, has their own vocabulary:

LINE defines the edge of a shape. It is the path left by a moving point. Line in itself is not found in nature, but it is essential for depicting objects or defining shapes.

SHAPE and MASS is the area enclosed by a line. Shape also refers to circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles. The mass, or volume, of a shape can be defined by light falling on the shape.

LIGHT and SHADE refers to tonal values. It is the lightness or darkness of an object or area.

SPACE in real life is three-dimensional. Perspective is used to imitate this real space on a two-dimensional surface. There is also positive space, which is the object and negative space, which is the space around the object. Sculpture on the other hand, is three-dimensional because it has height, width, and depth, giving us the chance to walk around it.

TEXTURE is the quality of an object through touch (actual, real, tactile texture) or the quality of an object through implementing the elements (implied or visual texture).

COLOR is powerful, complex, and appealing. It has three characteristics: HUE is the name of the color (red, blue etc); VALUE refers to how light or dark a color is; INTENSITY describes how bright or dull a color is. Warm colors include yellows and reds. Cool colors include blues and greens. Although color is impressive, many art forms lacks the use of it but are still regarded as powerful works of art: for example, black-and-white films, etchings, drawings, and sculpture.

Course Outline for Our Art Appreciation: South African Art For Kids Homeschool Course

Eighteen African art for kids lessons introduce homeschool students to notable South African artists of the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, along with elements of art and aspects of composition.

Lesson One – Walter Battiss
Lesson Two – Esther Mahlangu
Lesson Three – William Kentridge
Lesson Four – Cecil Skotnes
Lesson Five – Maggie Laubser
Lesson Six – San Artists: Vetkat Kruiper and Joao Dikuanga
Lesson Seven – Hanneke Benade
Lesson Eight – Willie Bester
Lesson Nine – San Artists: Jan Van Der Merwe
Lesson Ten – Irma Stern
Lesson Eleven – Helen Martins
Lesson Twelve – David Goldblatt
Lesson Thirteen – Strijdom Van Der Merwe
Lesson Fourteen – Sibonelo Chiliza
Lesson Fifteen – Zakkie Eloff
Lesson Sixteen – J. H. Pierneef
Lesson Seventeen – Bonnie Ntshalintshali
Lesson Eighteen – Gerard Sekoto

More About Our Art Appreciation: South African Art For Kids Homeschool Course

Using African art for kids as the basis for art appreciation study, homeschool students start by asking simple questions. Who is the artist? When and where did he or she live and create the artwork? What is the subject matter? What is the medium?

Having the basics, students move on to analyze the work itself according to the art appreciation vocabulary. What then is the language of art? Enjoy a journey to discover the answer with these African art for kids homeschool lessons.

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Art Appreciation: South African Art

Length: 18 weekly lessons
Includes: Weekly downloadable lessons, including text and images to study
Grades: 4-7

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