ArtSite: sharing art and ideas.

Years of teaching art led me to wonder how I could enhance learning through a simple computer program that both teachers and students could use to encourage creative discovery and, at the same time, build a knowledge base of art from all over the world. I envisioned even a single classroom computer becoming an exciting resource through which teachers and students could access art from numerous museums and also the art and writing of their peers--a program that could grow and change as years pass.

The Internet offers a wealth of art images. Think back just a few years. Unless you were able to travel extensively, it would have been difficult to view multiple works by an artist who interested you, since they would be widely dispersed.

Planning ArtSite

My plan was to create an intranet program, which could be customized for any teaching environment. I wanted to design a program that made extensive use of low-cost Internet resources. The software would give teachers and students the ability to easily access, select, and organize images and descriptions from museum or gallery websites. They could build their own art collections emphasizing their choice of subjects, styles, cultures, and historical interests. Students could contribute to a group portfolio displaying their own art and writing. All pages could be easily searched, saved, and printed for sharing and grading.

When I began my work, choosing the navigational topics was easy. The "Museum" section would be for teachers to select and display art and descriptions they have found on museum websites or written themselves. Each Museum page would include a group of project suggestions to encourage self-guided learning related to the image and description shown. In the "Studio" section students could add their own art and writing for display in the "Portfolio" section. A key concern was to provide a password-protected "Teachers Resource" section where teachers could customize program content as well as manage student records. The whole project would be called "ArtSite," a word many European art websites use instead of "website."

Providing useful program content and designing a simple and functional interface were important. To start off, the program would be loaded with images and descriptions from a number of Internet museum websites in ten collection categories: American Painting before 1945, European Painting before 1900, Works on Paper, Modern Sculpture and Design, Modern Painting, Photography, Egyptian Art, Greek and Roman Art, Asian Art, and Art of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The art had to provide a rich learning environment so that students of varied cultural backgrounds would be motivated to contribute their own selections and research.

Making ArtSite Work

The backbone of ArtSite is a database-driven website. Students and teachers register to create a user name and password. Logging in personalizes the program by directing students and teachers to their own individual records. Simple forms and buttons are used to create Museum, Gallery, and Portfolio pages. Teachers can easily add, delete, or modify all aspects of the program including student registration records. Each section of ArtSite has its own search criteria. The loaded Museum is best suited for grade seven through college, but teachers can easily rewrite the content to motivate younger students.

The fair-use clause of the copyright law allows images and text to be downloaded by teachers and students for educational use. As the developer, I had to approach museums for permission to use their images and text for what some thought of as a commercial use. This proved to be a long and complicated task since I had proposed a use they had never addressed before. The permissions ranged from simple and free of charge to lengthy contracts and relatively high fees. Some works needed additional permission from the artist's estates. I am grateful for the help of those museums who gave me permission to include the webpage images and descriptions from their collections. In the end, a unique group of sixty-four Museum pages were added to ArtSite. I referred to my own teaching experience, the descriptions pro vided by the museums, and additional research to include at least two or three project suggestions on each page--a total of 168 research and studio projects ideas. Teachers can modify or expand the initial museum selection with their own choice of art, descriptions, and project suggestions to match their individual teaching style.

ArtSearch

The last piece of the puzzle was to add the "ArtSearch" section, a teacher-customized Internet search engine loaded with fifty web links offering good quality art images, descriptions, and/or activities. If an Internet connection is available, ArtSearch opens the selected website in a second browser window for easy access to enrichment and research.

The project evolved over a period of more than a year. As new ideas were considered, the program continued to improve. When ArtSite was introduced into a few schools, teachers offered useful suggestions which have been incorporated into the newest version.

I invite readers to learn more about ArtSite, now available for both the Mac and Windows operating systems, by visiting www.ArtSite Net.com. Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Laurie Greenly is a former high school teacher and current multimedia developer living in Campbell Hall, New York. [e-mail]