Art Education Through Religion, by Mary Gertrude McMunigle, is a remarkable eight-level Catholic art curriculum designed to develop not only children's artistic abilities, but their character and spiritual lives. Originally developed in the late 1920s for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, this carefully structured program brings together the cultivation of artistic skill, an appreciation of beauty, and the formation of the whole person.
At the heart of McMunigle's method is the conviction that learning to create beautiful things requires first learning to see. Through a progressive course of drawing, coloring, paper cutting and folding, painting, modeling, lettering, and design, students develop accuracy, coordination, observation, and artistic judgment. Each level builds upon the skills established in the preceding books, gradually introducing more sophisticated principles of line, form, color, proportion, and composition.
But the purpose of these lessons extends beyond technical proficiency. Each lesson has three complementary objectives: artistic, spiritual, and character formation. Religious subjects, sacred symbols, and the seasons and feasts of the Church provide meaningful inspiration for the children's work, while the exercises themselves encourage habits of patience, perseverance, self-control, reverence, and care. In this way, the development of artistic skill becomes a means of cultivating both the mind and the soul.
The projects are practical and varied, requiring mostly familiar, inexpensive materials rather than elaborate equipment. Students learn through purposeful exercises that develop their abilities step by step, with opportunities for creativity and original expression rather than mere imitation. The accompanying Teacher's Manual explains the philosophy behind the program and provides detailed guidance for presenting the lessons and understanding their educational objectives.
We have painstakingly restored the original student books, redrawing and recoloring their illustrations to make them clearer, more vibrant, and more appealing to today's children, while preserving the substance of McMunigle's original curriculum.
Save 15% when you purchase all eight student books and the Teacher's Manual together!
For families and schools wishing to enrich the program with picture study, we also recommend Great Pictures and Their Stories, a companion series of nine graded art appreciation readers by Katherine Morris Lester. These delightful books introduce children to great masterpieces through engaging stories, helping them recognize the very principles of color, line, light, and composition that they are learning to apply in their own artwork.
Unlike many older educational works, Art Education Through Religion was developed under Catholic ecclesiastical supervision and bears an imprimatur. It offers parents and teachers a rare opportunity to give children a substantial education in the visual arts within a thoroughly Catholic understanding of beauty and its place in human life.
For a fuller explanation of the curriculum, its teaching methods, and how to choose the appropriate level, visit our Art Education Through Religion curriculum guide.
Here is what is included in this package:
