Themepark

imagination
Art/Artists/Art Museums

Art has probably been around as long as there have been humans. Prehistoric art was linked to magic, religious expression, and hunting glories. Ancient Greek and Roman art gloried in the "ideal". Medieval art was mostly about teaching--instructing the general population about religion and life after death. Renaissance art celebrated humanism. What all art has in common is its link to imagination.

Sample some of the following activities to learn more about art and artists.

 

Places To Go    People To See    Things To Do    Teacher Resources

Places To Go

The following are places to go (some real and some virtual) to find out about art.

ArtCom Museum
Visit the Getty Center in Los Angeles or the Red River Railroad Museum in Texas. This site has links to over 1600 U.S. museums.
Detroit Institute of Art
The Detroit Institute of Art is the he fifth-largest fine arts museum in the United States with holdings of over 60,000 works. Visit it virtually for its fine online collection. It currently has a great exhibition of the self-portraits of Vincent Van Gogh.
Georgia O'Keefe
Visit Georgia O'Keefe in New Mexico at her Ghost Ranch house. She lived there until her death in 1984 at the age of 98.
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia showcases masterpieces of art and Russian history. Take a virtual tour of the former royal residences and search the high-resolution online digital collection at the official web site.
The Incredible Art Department
Visit the art department created by high school teacher, Rohrer to find Art News, Art Site of the Week, Lesson Plans, and much more.
The Lines of Peru
Travel to the Nazca desert in Peru to see huge works of art etched into the desert plain. "Across this plain, in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1 mile wide, is an assortment of perfectly straight lines, many running parallel, others intersecting, forming a grand geometric form.
The Louvre Museum
This is the true magic of the internet--the ability to visit the Louvre from our classrooms or from home in our pyjamas. Take this online virtual tour of the most famous museum in the world.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Experience the online exhibits from this world famous art museum.
Monet at Giverny
Travel to the gardens of Giverny, France and experience not only the gardens, but Monet's famous paintings as well.
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has painting, sculpture, and graphic arts from the Middle Ages to the present. The online exhibits are searchable by artist or title.
Paul Gaugin
Paul Gaugin was one of the leading French painters of the Postimpressionist period, whose development of a conceptual method of representation was a decisive step for 20th-century art.
Saharan Rock Art
Travel to the Sahara Desert in Africa to see prehistoric rock art. By studying rock artworks of different ages,scientists have reconstructed some of the history of the tribes who lived there. The oldest art dates to 12,000 years ago when the area was not desert, but fertile grassland.

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People To See

Art Business
This art columnist and author will be glad to answer questions about fine art.
Artist Profile - Mary Cassatt 
Meet Mary Cassatt, American artist. She was influenced by the Impressionists and is noted for her paintings of mothers and children.
Exploring Leonardo
Meet this this fascinating scientist, inventor, and artist.
Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau was called a primitive artist because he had no formal training. Primitive artists are sometimes called folk artists. Have students find out about other primitive/folk artists like Edward Hicks and Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma Moses).
Katsushika Hokusai
Meet Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai. He lived from 1760 to 1849 and is famous for his landscape prints. He often only use the colors blue, brown, and green. Have students discover other artists who were particularly noted for landscapes such as Joseph Turner and John Constable.
National Portrait Gallery
Meet many of the important people who helped to shape our nation by viewing their portraits at the National Portrait Gallery which is part of the Smithsonian Institute.

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Things To Do

Art History Resources on the Web
From prehistoric art to modern art, find what you need at this all-encompassing site.
Artcyclopedia
Use the Artcyclopedia to find information about art museums, artists, art news, and works of art.
ArtsEdge
You can find lesson plans and web links that connect the Arts with other subject areas: Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts and more.
Collage
Choose from an image database containing 20,000 works from the Guildhall Art Gallery in London.
Etch-A-Sketch
Find out the top ten tips and tricks about how to use this high-tech tool effectively. Check out their art gallery of actual pictures that people have drawn with their Etch-A-Sketch.
How Tattoos Work
Are tattoos considered one of the "fine arts"?
How To Read a Painting
From this instructional unit, help students learn art criticism skills to enrich museum experiences.
M. C. Escher
Learn more about M.C. Escher. And then send your students to this excellent tesselation tutorial that includes templates for them to make their own tesselations.
They Still Draw Pictures
This site is an online collection of drawings by children who lived in France and Spain during the Spanish Civil War. This conflict took place in 1938, and these drawings show how they dealt with their feelings during that confict.
Web Museum: Famous Paintings Exhibition
Help students find images of famous paintings from the medieval times to modern. The site also includes Japanese art.
WorldWide Art Resources
This interactive arts gateway will give you access to artists, museums, galleries, high quality art, art history, arts education, and more.

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Teacher Resources

Webquests