Do a Fun Folk Art Project in Mixed Media to Learn About Grandma Moses

We recently completed a very fun folk art project in mixed media to learn more about the great American artist Grandma Moses. It’s part of Techie Homeschool Mom’s online course called Famous Artists: Volume 2. See below the art project tutorial to learn more about the online course and which other artists are included.

Grandma Moses in Famous Artists: Volume 2

When learning about Grandma Moses in Famous Artists: Volume 2, first you’ll learn about the art movement called Folk Art. Then, you’ll learn about Grandma Moses herself and one of her famous paintings called Get Out of the Sleigh. Finally, there is an opportunity for you and your kids to do a project in her folk art style and then add all you learned to the online art exhibit!

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Here is how my kids did the Folk Art Project:

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As I was looking through the various artists and projects in Famous Artists: Volume 2 to choose one for us to do, I immediately fell in love with this one. First, I have always loved Grandma Moses and her down-home folksy style and the inspirational story of how she started painting (and got famous) so late in life. But, I also loved that this folk art project included sewing along with painting!

First, I purchased a few supplies off of Amazon. We needed Canvas paper and acrylic paints. We already had paint brushes, embroidery needles, and colored embroidery floss. The other supplies we used for this project were pencils, newspaper to protect the table, paper plates to hold the paint, and paper towels.

The ages of the kids working on this project were 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.

Grandma Moses Folk House Art Project from Famous Artists vol. 2 Online Unit Study course, folk art project my kids did

Step 1:

Draw a house in pencil and then start to fill in with paint.

Step 2:

Add more colors to different areas of the house.

Grandma Moses Folk House Art Project from Famous Artists vol. 2 Online Unit Study course

Step 3:

Complete all paint on the house. The video below describes some advanced techniques for painting to add texture.

Step 4:

Paint a background to fill the canvas paper with paint, if desired.

Step 5:

Allow to completely dry (we waited until the next day) and then sew some embroidery stitches on your painting

On this next one, we used several strands of regular thread instead of embroidery floss.

Final Projects:

Video explaining more about the Folk Art Project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfU3wqIq8RE

Famous Artists, Volume 2 Online Unit Study course

We have used online unit studies for several years and love the way these are put together! You do most of the work, research, and learning online. In this particular course, there are some supplies to purchase if you’d like to do the physical art projects that are in the style of the artists you are studying. But, usually, everything you need is right there online: what to read, videos to watch, and even the projects because they are digital online projects!

Famous Artists, Volume 2 includes the following artists and styles: