Pat Knepley is the Master Artist behind this Christian art curriculum for all ages. Her See The Light Art Class is a great visual introduction to art for elementary students, junior high students, and even high school students who have not had earlier art instruction.
We received the first DVD for review, which includes lessons 1-4 and a bonus lesson. Lesson 1 covers the art tools you'll need for the course. Lesson 2 begins with line drawings, including blind contour drawing. Lesson 3 moves on to contour drawing and composition of the drawing. Lesson 4 covers drawing what you see, and focusing on the details. The Bonus lesson is a chalk art lesson.See The Light lessons are first explained and demonstrated by Pat Knepley. After she demonstrates it, she again walks the student through the lesson, and gives an assignment for them to complete on their own. Each lesson concludes with a brief devotional thought and Bible verse.
From what I can tell after viewing just the first DVD, Pat does an excellent job of breaking the lesson down into steps. Being able to watch someone complete the lesson is much easier than reading about how to do it from a book, trying to translate that information, and then complete it yourself. The first four lessons cover the same things I remember covering in the first few weeks of my 9th grade art class. I told this to my kids when they balked at the simplicity of drawing a lone apple, and the difficulty of the blind contour drawing activity. I assured them I even had to do blind contour drawing in 9th grade, to train my hand to draw what I saw when I wasn't looking at the paper.
The DVD is well-made, with a non-distracting set, and a good view of Pat's demonstration. The sound quality is excellent, and I enjoyed watching this DVD with my children. The fact that they are DVDs means that they can be viewed as often as needed, with as many of your children as you'd like. The initial investment can be re-gained by using it with future children, though you can also use it with multiple ages at the same time.
The See The Light Art Class is comprised of 9 DVD's covering 36 lessons, a full year's curriculum for art, with weekly lessons. This DVD set can be purchased for $99.99, or there is also an online subscription. In addition to the See The Light Art Class, Pat has art classes that revolve around the Christmas story and the Easter story: The Gift of Love and The Crossmaker.
If you'd like to see a sample, you can view free art lesson samples online. You can also request a free See The Light DVD sample. This appears to be the same sample that we received for this review. The See The Light website also has other fun, free stuff. Go ahead and check out the free samples! You'll gain a few introductory art lessons for your children, and you might find your family's ideal art curriculum.
This item was provided free for our review as a member of the TOS Homeschool Crew. We received no other compensation, and this review is our honest opinion. Visit the TOS Homeschool Crew blog to read more reviews on this product by other Homeschool Crew members.
Trusting In Him,
April
