My in-laws are professional oil painters, my husband is a graphic designer, and I’m a sometimes-watercolorist. But sometimes our kids need more homeschool art guidance than we have the energy to give. Masterpiece Society is filling that gap for us — in a classical, creative, and joyful way!
What is Masterpiece Society?
*This post contains affiliate links. I only review and recommend items we use and love and I received a free one year Studio Membership from Masterpiece Society. See my full disclosure and privacy policy for details.
Masterpiece Society offers everything from mini art lessons, to art appreciation courses, to high school level art classes. And they’re constantly creating new courses for us to explore.
The lessons and projects give my children the chance to work with a wide range of mediums — even collage and sculpting!
Mixed Media Art Lessons
These mini-lessons are bundled by theme and recommended for 5-7 year olds. My daughters wanted to work with the Down on the Farm and Backyard Nature sets.
This week alone, they learned how to transfer templates with a graphite pencil, highlight an acrylic painting with gel pen, and blend oil pastels!
Alisha Gratehouse, the founder of Masterpiece Society, is a joy to listen to in the videos. Her love of art really shines, as well as her dedication to teaching art well.
She even includes a template with each lesson so younger children can focus on working with the various mediums. This is really helpful for children who may be anxious about drawing.
Seasonal Art Series
The seasonal bundles take things a step further for kids ages 8+. Each bundle offers twenty season-based, mixed media art lessons.
The lessons add even more mediums and techniques, including:
- Hand-lettering
- Chalkboard art
- Art Journaling
- Decoupage
- Paperclay
I’m especially looking forward to the projects in The Art of Fall bundle!
Mixing with the Masters
We’re restarting our curriculum’s enrichment cycle this year, and we’ll be using Mixing with the Masters Vol. I and Vol. II alongside. It will let my older kids go deeper with artwork/artists they’re especially interested in.
The program teaches art history, appreciation, and technique based on the life and works of a wide range of artists such as Da Vinci, Matisse, Durer, and O’Keefe.
Many artists led complicated lives, so I really appreciate that Masterpiece Society strives to keep their content family-friendly!
After learning about the artist, there are three additional lessons. Each one focuses on a famous work by that artist, guiding kids as they recreate the work.
Then, at the end of each artist study, there’s a challenge lesson where students can create their own, original work using the techniques they’ve just learned.
Talk about a classical progression for homeschool art!
Art School
These courses are recommended for ages 10+ and some of my older kids couldn’t wait to dive in! There are Art School courses for Drawing, Watercolor, Pastels, and Acrylics/Oils.
We’re starting with the Art School: Drawing 101 so the boys can solidify foundational skills before diving deep into the other mediums.
Art School courses cover:
- How to use classical art media
- The Elements of Art
- The Principles of Design
- Color theory & mixing
- Value & intensity
- Perspective
- Proportion
- How to draw a self-portrait
- How to draw and paint animals
- Painting a landscape and seascape
- Painting still life and florals
- The importance of copying master artists in order to improve technique
I’m tempted to go through the Watercolor Art School myself!
Other Amazing Resources
I love the wide range of resources Masterpiece Society offers. In addition to the art lessons, they have sets that teach Nature Journaling and Hand Lettering.
The Nature Journaling set will be a fantastic hands-on resource for our science studies.
Studio Membership
All of these programs are available separately, but Masterpiece’s Studio Membership has been perfect for us!
Studio Membership gives us access to every resource put out by Masterpiece Society, both now and in the future. PLUS, we get exclusive lessons and resources that are only available to Studio Members.
My 6 year old LOVES the Step-by-Step Drawing lessons for K-2.
My 10 year old is especially excited about the Membership-only handcraft projects and the animal drawing lessons.
Studio Membership also gives us early access to NEW homeschool art courses that will be released this school year:
- Art Through the Ages (five volumes of art history with hands-on projects!)
- Art of the Round Table (knights, castles, and more!)
- Poetry & Painting
Membership is the perfect resource for us because I don’t have to plan ahead. I can simply choose a project based on interest, season, medium, or technique.
If the kids want to learn more about a specific artist, we can see what Masterpiece Society Studio has about that artist.
Plus, Masterpiece includes links to other resources on each artist so I don’t have to find them myself!
Studio Membership enrollment is open THIS WEEK ONLY! (August 2-6, 2021)
It won’t open again until January 2022.
How we Use Masterpiece Society for Homeschool Art
We’re using Masterpiece Society as a resource rather than a curriculum, so I don’t schedule it in our school days. But it lives online, so I found myself forgetting about it (out of sight, out of mind!)
To solve this problem, I’ve declared Sundays as art days. The kids naturally gravitate to art when they need down time so Sundays are the perfect day for using our Studio Membership.
The younger kids can do a mini lesson, or watch an older sibling learn advanced techniques. Or they can all work together on a handcraft project.
Art supply lists are included so I know what to keep on hand. Still, there’s no pressure. If we don’t have a particular item, we just pick a different project!
A Family Approach to Homeschool Art
Masterpiece Society is run by Alisha Gratehouse but it’s a true family affair: her family is involved in everything from administration to development to teaching!
As a family that owns a small business, we really appreciate the dedication this requires. They love what they do and want to pass that love on to other families. They’re doing a fantastic job.
I can’t wait to see you in the Studio!
My kids are young. Do I understand correctly- I can buy a studio membership this week, which gives access to everything, or I can buy a class for ages 5-7 at any time?
Yes, that’s right!