Smart Art is a fine arts subscription service that sends a new project every month and all the supplies needed to complete it. My husband and I are both artists, so we were very happy to have the opportunity to try this box out!
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Smart Art
The Cost: $49.99 per month with free shipping
The Products: A fine arts project, complete with instructions and supplies
Ships to: US only
When I opened the box, I saw this little card attached to the inside lid. Subscribers can upload a picture of their finished project to Smart Art's Facebook page for a chance to win a free box! That's really cool! On the other hand, it took my husband and I forever to finish our projects - there's no way we could have uploaded by the 18th of last month!
This month's project was carving tiki statues! How fun! This is the inside of the booklet that Smart Art sends every month. It includes art history related to the project, a list of the included supplies, project pointers, and instructions.
These are the supplies that were included for the project:
2 CORAFOAM bricks - value $5 ea (estimated)
Uline Comfort-Grip Utility Knife - value $10
Uline Lightweight Utility Knife - Value $10 (estimated)
3M Production Sandpaper in Extra Fine grit and Medium Grit - Value $0.60 each
Wood and Lino Cutting Tools - Value $3.49
Also included this month was a bonus coupon for 30% off at canvaspop!
Since they included two blocks of CORAFOAM, my husband and I decided to each try this month's challenge. Unfortunately, my husband didn't finish his, but I decided to include a picture of it anyway to show what the process looks like. Carving is really hard! It takes a lot of attention to detail and patience!
This is my completed sculpture. This is also how I feel when I wake up in the morning! His name is Maui, after the Hawaiian god of time-shifting. I am hoping that having him around will bring some luck in slowing time down a bit for us! This is actually the first sculpture / carving I have ever done, and I'm really happy with the way it came out! I am planning to paint him, and if all goes well I will put him up on a wall in our house somewhere.
Verdict: I am really impressed by Smart Art! One thing that's important to know is that their projects not only differ every month, but also focus on a different skill / media every month. For someone like me who wants to try EVERYTHING, it's perfect, but I understand that might not be for everyone.
The instructions were not as detailed as I would have liked them to be. There was a decent description of what to do, but not much about the HOW. On the other hand, just experimenting with tools and media is part of the artistic process. In any case, I figured it out. I didn't enjoy carving all that much while I was doing it, but I was really happy with my end product. I had a blast trying it out, though!
The value of all the items together comes out to about $34, which is less than the cost of the box overall, but I'm happy with the value. The curation, project selection, and presentation was really fun and well thought-out. Shipping was free. The sandpaper is one of those items that you can't just buy one piece, you have to buy a $15 packet of each kind. I also appreciate all the materials being gathered together into a kit for me. It takes forever to plan out a project like this and acquire all the materials!
Overall, I am really happy with Smart Art! I think if you like creating and trying new things, Smart Art would be wonderful for you, too!
What do you think of Smart Art?
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