How Artists See Play: Sports Games Toys Imagination

Abbeville Kids expands its award-winning series of interactive, inquiry-based books designed to teach children about the world by looking at art, and about art by looking at the world.

In How Artists See Play children can see how Jacob Lawrence chose bright colors and strong curving lines to convey the speed and energy of Olympic relay racers; how Maxfield Parrish used his imagination to paint a whimsical dragon; how Jean-Baptiste Chardin painted a boy blowing a soap bubble so realistically that it seems you could pop the bubble with your finger; and how Dick West depicted a community of Native Americans enjoying a winter field day.

Each volume in the How Artists See series presents sixteen diverse works of art, all devoted to a subject that every child already knows from personal experience. Author Colleen Carroll's engaging, conversational text is filled with thought-provoking questions and imaginative activities that spark children's natural curiosity both about the subject of the artwork they are looking at and about the way it was created.

This direct, interactive approach to art--and to the world--promotes self-exploration, self-discovery, and self-expression. As it introduces basic artistic concepts, styles, and techniques, it also provides loads of fun. For children who want to know more about the artists whose works appear in the book, biographies are provided at the end, along with suggestions for further reading and an international list of museums where each artists works can be seen. As they begin to understand the multitude of ways that artists see, children will deepen their appreciation of art, the world around them, and, most importantly, their own unique visions.

Colleen Carroll is an educational consultant for MTV, USA Today, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, Black Entertainment Television, CNBC, Channel One, and The Edison Project. She previously taught sixth grade in California and now lives in New York.