Art & Music

ArtEdventures
Want to learn about cave paintings, realism, op art, or pop art? Need to know the difference between oil paint and tempera? Ever wonder what people are looking for when they stare at paintings in a gallery? This fun site has a time line and glossary that will guide you through the interesting world of art and artists. It provides quick but helpful answers to your questions about artists, artistic periods, colors, materials, the elements and principles of art, and much more.

Artcyclopedia: The Fine Art Search Engine
Suppose you have to write a paper describing the work of artist Grandma Moses, or explaining Gothic art, or discussing some famous landscape painters. If you have no idea where to start, go straight to Artcyclopedia—a lifesaving art search engine. Just type in a name, a title, a museum, an art movement, or an artistic style, and it will quickly generate a list of helpful online resources and viewable art related to your topic.

Art History Resources on the Web
This site, put together by an art history professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, is yet another gold mine of art information. It provides detailed outlines divided by historical period. Each outline is filled with topics that are linked to helpful online resources. For example, clicking on Middle Ages will get you to an outline that includes Romanesque. Clicking on Romanesque will get you a list of hot links to places that will tell you about and show you Romanesque art. Give it a try—it's very handy.

The National Gallery of Art
Have you checked in on YOUR art gallery lately? That's right—the National Gallery of Art and its collections belong to all citizens of the United States. Thanks to this great Web site, it isn't necessary to travel to Washington, D.C., to enjoy its fine collection of paintings, sculptures, and graphic arts from the Middle Ages to the present. The Web site allows you to search for and view art in the collection and take virtual exhibition tours. It also offers in-depth studies of artists and works of art.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Explore and Learn
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has more than two million pieces of art in its collection, and the collection represents cultures all over the world from ancient to modern times. The Explore and Learn section of the Web site is geared toward students who are researching art topics. Here you will find information on specific pieces, artists, and artistic periods. You can do searches, try your hand at activities, or log onto the museum's online collection.

Museum of Modern Art: The Collection
If you want to see one of the finest collections of modern art around, check out the web site for the MOMA—Museum of Modern Art in New York City. This link will take you right to the museum's online collection, which provides an excellent overview of modern architecture and design, drawing, film and video, painting and sculpture, photography, and illustrated books. Simply click on the category you want and view rows of small images. Clicking on an image will enlarge it and bring up information about it.

Exploring Leonardo
Many people know Leonardo da Vinci only as the painter who created the Mona Lisa, but this Italian Renaissance genius was a man of many accomplishments. This great site, created by Boston's Museum of Science, focuses on Leonardo the painter, the musician, the scientist, the engineer, and the inventor. Here you will find biographical information, examples of his artistic work, pictures of his machines, links to more Leonardo information, and much more.

Microsoft Art Collection: Hope, Anguish, and the Berlin Wall
We all know the stuff hanging in museums is supposed to be art, but do we recognize art when it appears in unlikely places? This site highlights patterns of graffiti on the infamous Berlin Wall—the wire and concrete wall erected by communist East Germany in 1961 and dismantled in 1989. Go to the site to get historical information, to see some unusual art, and to think about art in a whole new way.

Inside Art: An Art History Game — During a trip to an art museum, you are sucked into a famous painting. Can you use clues to guess the painting's identity--and escape?

Pintura's Place — Take part in the adventures of A. Pintura, Art Detective, as he solves mysteries in the art world. This site is really fun, and it's loaded with information about famous paintings and artists.

Crayola — This colorful site includes a virtual tour of the crayon factory.

Exploring Origami — Try your hand at origami, the Japanese art of paper-folding. This Web site gives simple, step-by-step directions for creating a variety of shapes, including a dog, piano, box, windmill, and goldfish. You can even download and print origami paper to give your origami some personality!