Art Education Through Religion

About this book

Art Education Through Religion is a series of graded textbooks on art and industrial design developed in the late 1920s by Mary Gertrude McMunigle, who was Director of Art for the Diocese of Pittsburgh at the time. This endeavor was overseen by two priests: Rev. Paul E. Campbell, A.M. LitD, who was then superintendent of Parochial Schools for the Pittsburgh Diocese, and Rev. Raymond V. Kirk, A.B. PhD, Dean of the College of Education of Duquesne University. Yes, this art curriculum actually has an imprimatur!Each lesson aims to improve the student's appreciation and skill in art, while at the same time imparting both spiritual and character objectives. Therefore the use of this series trains not only the eye, but the whole person, including the intellect and will. Students gain knowledge, self-control, accuracy, reverence, helpfulness and good manners, as well as many other useful life skills.Book Five places a strong emphasis on increasing technical skill in art appreciation, graphic design, color theory, composition, lettering, and drawing. Ancient Greek architecture is appreciated through discussion and clay modeling from photos. Intuition for the proper proportions of the human form is instilled through frequent practice of figure drawing and action studies, and lettering techniques learned through paper cutting in earlier lessons now transition to hand lettering skills.**An important note**: though the levels were designed to correspond with grades one through eight, they work best as a system. If a student in the third grade or above begins to use this series for the first time, it is recommended that they begin at least one or two levels previous to their current grade level, and not later than level five. Many of the concepts introduced at the upper grade levels may prove frustrating to successfully master without the foundations laid in these earlier grades.