Art Appreciation Books

Looking at art is just as important as doing art.  Creativity can only come from a filled mind; you can only squeeze water from a filled sponge.

Here are three books we really enjoyed that allow for art appreciation.

Look! Look! Look! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace is a book in which three mice examine an art postcard that came in the mail of their human's house.  I love how it shows to use a viewfinder to look more closely at certain parts of the painting.  The mice also examine pattern, color, line, and shape and how all these elements can be found in the painting.

Bunnies in My Head  by Tricia Tusa is a sweet book that explains why we draw or paint (to express ideas that come to us in our heads).  The art drawn by the little girl in the story is art drawn and painted by children from a Children's Hospital.  I love the author's use of imagery.

Vincent's Colors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a good book to use to teach and review colors using famous artworks from Vincent van Gogh. I believe children are never too young to be introduced to famous painters and composers.  Bear and I like van Gogh's swirly dabs of paint and his use of soothing blues, greens and sunny yellows.

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