Grade 7 · printable course

Seeing and Making: An Introduction to Visual Art

Grade 7 · 220 pages · 35 lessons · PDF, print at home

A semester course where students learn the elements of art by making with paper, pencil, and household materials, then find those same elements in real works from museum collections across four continents. Students learn to describe, analyze, interpret, and judge art using explicit critique vocabulary, applied first to others' work and then to their own. Observational drawing is tracked weekly to make skill growth visible. The course ends with a five-piece portfolio and written artist statements.

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What is inside

Every unit and lesson in this book, in order. The same lessons are taught online at lettersanddevotion.com, so a family can move between paper and screen.

Seeing and Making: An Introduction to Visual Art

35 lessons · try a lesson online free

Unit 1: The Elements of Art: Making, Naming, Finding9 lessons
  1. 1.The seven elements of art (line, shape, value, color, texture, space, form)
  2. 2.A graduated value scale made with pencil pressure and layering
  3. 3.The relationship between value gradient and the 2D-to-3D illusion (shape vs. form)
  4. 4.Actual texture versus implied texture
  5. 5.Positive/negative space and depth cues (overlap, relative size)
  6. 6.The critique verb 'describe' as distinct from interpretation or judgment
  7. 7.The relationship between an element choice (e.g., jagged vs. smooth line) and the emotional effect it produces
  8. 8.Self-assessment of one's own element study against the element's defining features
  9. 9.Strength of an element's presence in a specific artwork, judged independently of realism or technical polish
Unit 2: Composition: Why a Picture Holds Together8 lessons
  1. 10.Focal point as created by contrast, placement, or size within a composition
  2. 11.The three balance types (symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial) and the visual-weight criterion that distinguishes them
  3. 12.The distinction between symmetry and balance
  4. 13.Rule-of-thirds grid strategy and cropping decisions relative to format
  5. 14.Repetition and contrast as unifying compositional devices
  6. 15.The relationship between a localized flaw and overall compositional coherence
  7. 16.Shared deep structure of balance type across different media
  8. 17.The four critique verbs applied to whole-composition relationships
Unit 3: A World of Traditions: Materials, Cultures, Choices9 lessons
  1. 18.Medium, process, and support as material vocabulary
  2. 19.The four named tradition examples (African, Asian, Americas, European works)
  3. 20.Flat space and absence of value gradation as intentional representational choices in specific traditions (e.g., Japanese ukiyo-e, Byzantine icon painting)
  4. 21.The relationship between material constraint and mark/message in an unfamiliar named artwork
  5. 22.Cross-continental comparison of material's effect on artistic choice
  6. 23.The fairness of applying cross-cultural standards to judge artwork
  7. 24.Transfer of the material-constrains-message principle to an unstudied tradition
  8. 25.Support as a physical category inferable from surface evidence
  9. 26.Proportion and shape accuracy in observational still-life drawing
Unit 4: Capstone Portfolio: Five Best Pieces9 lessons
  1. 27.Portfolio selection criteria applied to a personal body of work
  2. 28.The vocabulary names attached to the four selection-criteria categories
  3. 29.A specific element or composition concept applied to a student's own prior work
  4. 30.Proportion and value-shading technique in observational drawing
  5. 31.Growth in proportion accuracy and value control between two of the student's own drawings
  6. 32.The describe-analyze-interpret-judge structure applied to a student's own artwork
  7. 33.Specific, vocabulary-grounded peer feedback on a portfolio
  8. 34.Selection standard inferred from an unfamiliar portfolio's contents
  9. 35.A defensible aesthetic judgment with a named standard and its potential counter-evidence

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