This week we are excited to introduce you to ARTistic Pursuits! We carry nine of their excellent art books ranging in age from kindergarten through high school. Following is an interview with Brenda Ellis, President of ARTistic Pursuits.


Tell us an interesting fact or story about your company.
I tell my children, all in their teens and early twenties, that it's important to follow one's interests, because you can't imagine what God will do with them. I've always loved pictures, created children's art projects, and had an interest in art history. I could never have dreamed as a college art student in my early twenties that I'd someday school my children at home (it was unheard of then) or that I'd have the opportunity to create an art curriculum on a home computer (non-existent in the late '70's).  As a young mother and homeschooler, I saw the opportunity to teach real art classes to other children, as well as my own, and did so in our Homeschool Coop and at Denver Public Libraries in after-school and week-end programs. One year I was asked by numerous people to find a curriculum for them that was similar to what I was doing in those classes. They wanted more and they wanted to do it at home. As I searched for one, to my surprise, I did not see any that fit my goals. The copy-the-adult model and step-by-step methods were predominant, and I didn't see anyone teaching children to be creative or work from their own interests, as children naturally want to do. My interest in art was suddenly expanded to studies of children's artistic development and methods of teaching the subject.  I was able to explore in depth my own interests related to art, and also present those ideas in the simple, direct ways that I wanted other subjects to be packaged for me as a homeschool mom. When work so directly follows one's interests, its very rewarding.

How can your products best benefit the homeschooling community?
These books were written for homeschoolers by homeschoolers. Homeschoolers are serious about learning so there is content in these books that give children the information they want in order to succeed in art. Children are introduced to an idea through a variety of applications, and then make choices for their own art. The work produced is personal, meaningful to each child, and a unique creation of their own, using real art materials. Homeschoolers understand the need for creativity in their daily lives. Having left the beaten path of the Public School system, they face many choices. They want their children to be creative thinkers as well. Art is a natural training ground for the subject. The ARTistic Pursuits books are written in a way that is mindful of the homeschooling parents' limited time also. These books allow parents to give their children a great art education while requiring no preparation other than to purchase the art supplies listed in the front of each book.  Parents simply learn the content right along with the children as they read each ten-minute lesson. Children create art independently.

Which of your products are you most excited about? 
I love the self-confidence that ARTistic Pursuits, Grades K-3, Book One, An Introduction to the Visual Arts generates in children. The book has three sections featuring What Artists Do, What Artists See, and Ancient Art. It's a perfect introduction to the subject of art, because when a young child learns that artists compose, imagine, look, or communicate, and then creates a work of art doing the same things, who can argue when he/she says, "I'm an artist!" The second section gives a first introduction to the elements of art, which is the basis of an art education, and is revisited in much more detail in the upper grade levels. Finally, the ancient art history section is an opportunity to expand students' ideas of what art is. We explain that art is not just a picture on a wall, but cultures used it inside pyramids, in castles, on floors, on pots, in streets, in church windows, and more. Art is everywhere. Children with this broadened view of what art is notice more art in their own environments and have more ideas for creating their own art.

Give us a general overview of your company and the products you sell through the Schoolhouse Store.
We produce and distribute ARTistic Pursuits, an art curriculum series for homeschoolers in grades K-12. My husband, Dan, and I had several goals when creating the curriculum. Our first was to make a high school course that would prepare a homeschool student to enter college level courses with the foundation they need and to have a great college entrance portfolio. Secondly, we wanted to offer a comprehensive study, one that incorporated the creative aspect of making art, taught students how to look at art by the masters while introducing them to art history, and of course one that taught the necessary technical skills needed. We wanted students to become more aware of nature and to be able to make art from their own visual experiences and interests. We basically started backwards, thinking about the skills that should be in place as one enters college and continued to construct a framework to help young children get there. We began showing the high school books at homeschool conferences in 1999 and demand for our books at the lower levels was so high, that I continued to write for the next six years to complete the series.  We are very excited about the 2nd editions of each of the books that came out in 2008. The art works are beautiful, full color, and we added more art history in the 4-12th grade levels so that students get a better overview of the flow of American Art, European Art, and Art Around the World.