Websites for Educators

Rich Art Exhibits Are Online for the Taking
By Robert A Varisco
Lehigh University, Department of Educational Technology

More and more, art museums in the United States are reaching out through the Web to offer rich learning experiences. Here at Lehigh University’s Department of Educational Technology, we have been closely studying art museum Web sites across the U.S. and how they are currently using the Web to extend their educational mission. Our studies have identified eleven educational resources that are available: Online Exhibits, Collections, Learning Links, Lectures and Demonstrations, Lesson Plans, Learning Activities, Research Databases, Conversation Tools, Guided Tours, Miscellaneous Other Resources and Online Instruction.

Online exhibits are one of the most broadly available resources. There are two types of online exhibits, basic educational and enriched educational. Basic educational exhibits present works or artifacts with minimal exhibit information, for example, non-enlargeable images, principal provenance data, or other broad information. Enriched educational exhibits present materials that go beyond the essential to include enlargeable images, essay extensions of history, biography or themes, background, processes/practices/techniques, related works, and the like. These exhibits may also include learning activities derived directly from the exhibit, or complementary links to resources that accompany or supplement the exhibit, such as lectures, films, performing arts, festivals, catalogues, tours, public programs, classes, and so on.A good number of U.S. art museums have taken the enriched exhibit approach online. The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers select exhibits that include features like gallery tours, artist timelines, and streaming video or audio. All of their online exhibits offer remarkably high quality images. Find current Met exhibits at their “Special Exhibitions” page. From their Homepage, use the Search field to locate exhibits specific to your interests. In addition, the Met is extremely rich in other resources like collections, lesson plans, and learning activities. If you are a teacher, lesson plans on these topics are available: Art of Renaissance Europe, Art of Ancient Egypt, Arts of Korea, Art of Asia, Greek Art from Prehistoric to Classical. To hone your own understanding, more formal lectures on topics ranging from African Rock Art to Leonardo da Vinci are found under “Special Topics”.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art offers a fine online exhibit called Images of Power and Identity. Although the exhibit has been closed within the museum’s galleries for some time, it lives now on the Web, allowing for free exploration of nine regional cultures across the African continent: Western Sudan, Guinea Coast, Yoruba Peoples, Eastern Guinea Coast, Cameroon, Ogowe River Basin, Upper Congo, Kwango, and Eastern Congo. Very good cultural descriptions and images of works from the museum’s collections are available.

Similarly, the Seattle Art Museum presents Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, a truly excellent exhibit that features a dozen African and American artists/scholars who discuss various art works, craft and techniques, and meanings. These include very useful audio and video clips that showcase the artists/scholars as well as cultural contexts for works.

Finally, a personal favorite is the High Museum of Art’s Verrocchio’s David Restored, a highly interactive exhibit that allows exploration of five topics regarding this masterpiece: Verrocchio and his native Florence, David as a symbol, how the bronze statue was cast, its hidden secrets and how to understand the work. A link in the lower left corner of the page offers lesson plans for grades 1-12 to teachers seeking to use the exhibit in class.

The Web is a powerful alternative for those unable to travel to distant museums…always on, always open, even Mondays. Through the power of the Internet, learners can “travel” and experience art museums online and a world of promising resources placed there for the taking.

A list of other notable exhibits to explore:

• The Philadelphia Museum of Art
  • Degas and the Dance                      
  • Sand Mandala by the Venerable Losang Samten   
• Queens Museum of Art
  • NYC Panorama
• Chrysler Museum of Art
  • Pictures Tell the Story: Ernest C. Withers
  • Weegee's Story
  • La Bella Macchina: The Art of the Ferrari
• Cleveland Museum of Art
  • French Masterworks from Moscow
• Kennedy Museum of Art
  • Appalachians: A Contemporary Cultural Perspective
  • Warriors: The Navajo Code Talkers