ARTstor

So I've gone rogue from the TECHSsploration mission...first Delicious, now ARTstor. I'll get back on the bus with the next post.

The nice thing about having a friend who is an art librarian is that she is always hooking me up with new websites and pointing me in the direction of new software (see the "Delicious" post below for more details on how I'm tracking all the new information.). I was telling her about the goals of TECHsplorations and she asked, "Do you guys have a subscription to ARTstor?" When I said we had JSTOR, she responded, "Well, why don't I let you play around with my ARTstor account for a little bit to see what you think?"

I fully expected ARTstor to be a little too esoteric and academic for the Middle School classroom, but, boy, was I wrong! I found the software much easier to navigate than JSTOR and frankly, much more visually pleasing, as you might expect. Since we don't currently have a subscription to it (although Patti R-W is more than happy to pursue it if other faculty members are interested), let me sum up how it can be used beyond the visual arts classroom.

The catalog of pieces includes not only small pieces, but frescoes and architecturally significant pieces. For instance, we were able to pull up several ancient frescoes, zoom in on them, get a 360 degree view of where they're located, and potentially, mark them up on the computer screen. They can also be saved into an ARTstor account that you could pull up in class or during a presentation. Wow! Having never seen the Pantheon in Rome, I was amazed to see how close it is to the action in the modern city. For the English classroom, I would be interested in using this to pull up pieces for class discussion and writing assignments. I had tired of checking out 15 art books from our library and lugging them around campus for a self-portrait writing assignment; I think I'd be willing to re-institute the assignment if I can pull up similar images from my desk. I can also seem numerous applications for this in the history and foreign language classrooms.

Oh, I almost forgot that numerous galleries and museums have entire collections available for access through ARTstor. Very, very cool. The one drawback that I see right now is that several artists' estates haven't granted access to ARTstor to use their works. So if you're set on using Picasso, you're back to a GoogleImage search or getting the big art books. Jodi, my librarian friend, sees this changing (maybe not for Picasso); she said she's watched the list of pieces available grow monthly.

If you'd like to try out ARTstor, check in with Patti R-W. It's a fun program that combines the academic, the visual, and personal interest.