Hello, friends!
Some of you know of our plan here at Goldberry Arts to release a seven volume series of art appreciation guides called Lumen. I’d hoped—and worked!— to have the first book into your hands this fall, but along the way it became necessary to balance steady work progress with more undivided family (and homeschooling) time.
So with that in mind we have an updated release date for the first volume, which is on the element of line.
Pre-order date: March 20, 2024
Estimated ship date: July 20, 2024
We hope that many families will enjoy Lumen in their homes next year! Picture study within the intimacy of a family can be wonderful, and this is the kind of guide that can be started anytime.
What is Lumen?
Lumen is an art appreciation curriculum geared towards elementary and middle school aged students. Organized by specific art element and presented chronologically, each guide is designed to help students learn how to look closely and make connections across time and place.
Each volume will be available as a perfect-bound book that features twenty-four works of art and includes twenty-four coordinating 8.5x11” prints for study purposes.
Alongside the artworks will be information on artists and techniques, as well as discussion questions, prompts, and activities (such as poetry and writing) to help children further engage with the pieces in creative ways.
What are the elements of art?
The seven elements of art—line, space, color, shape, texture, value, and form— make up the fundamental building blocks of visual art, and studying them is a doorway into the depths of beauty. They link artwork of all time periods, themes, styles, and media and, over time, students will discover patterns within the ways artists have chosen to weave them together.
As I’ve reassessed the best use of our time and energy, I’ve narrowed the primary goals of Goldberry Arts:
To develop (over the next several years) the seven Lumen volumes for the use of art appreciation in homes and classrooms.
To share beauty, on whatever platform possible.
It’s been wonderful to hear that many people enjoy when beautiful artworks pop up in their social media feeds, so daily artwork via Instagram will start up again this month—organized by theme.
While I’m pausing most of the newsletter content for the year, my wonderful friend, Rebekah, is taking the reins on the illustrator column.To gather and share resources that help educators incorporate the arts into their school routines.
If you’ve found useful resources (be they books, curricula, internet resources, etc.) for teaching visual art or any of the arts, we would love to hear about them! You can email me at bethany@goldberrybooks.com.
Thank you for joining us in this venture to bring more beauty into more homes. We’re grateful for your presence, ideas, and feedback as we continue to work steadily to produce the Lumen guides and establish Goldberry Arts.
Looking forward to this!! I will definitely be pre-ordering.
Beautiful! And much needed.