Review Detail

Meet Georgia O’Keeffe

Kids Nonfiction 697

Southwestern Art Activity Book

March 19, 2022

Overall rating

3.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

3.0

Learning Value

3.0

This activity book gives a brief overview of O'Keefe's life and shows replicas of some of her paintings, along with explanations of how children can recreate some of the artistic effects. There is room on the pages for young artists to change shapes into objects, draw buildings, or to focus on close up drawing by rolling up the book and drawing what is seen through the circle. My favorite was how to make a marbled sky with shaving foam, paint, and a chopstick!

Good Points

Using a Southwestern palette of peach and green, this book offers brief explanations of art style along with insight into O'Keefe's life and career. The art projects don't offer a whole lot of explanation, but just give scope for the imagination to young artists who need some ideas of what to draw or paint. While the paintings discussed are replicated at the end of the book, along with their dates and titles listed, there isn't much in the way of an index or bibliography, since this is more of an activity book than a straight biography.

While my own children's art ability was more in line with Ed Emberley's thumbprint art books, this is a great choice for those who are a bit more interested in expressing themselves artistically. It would be a great companion to Frisch's Art Making with MoMA: 20 Activities for Kids Inspired by Artists at The Museum of Modern Art, Think and Make Like an Artist: Art Activities for Creative Kids by Claudia Boldt, or Kohl's Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great Masters.