Imagine what a magazine of the future would like with EDITION29 THE MUSEUM, an app that we oohed and awed over! It’s an exciting new visual magazine for the Apple Inc. iPad platform. This highly collectible magazine is a visual diary of the art that surrounds and influences us, and the stories behind the people who create these marvels that fill museums and galleries. It’s like a new editorialized catalog for any museum visitor, art enthusiast and collector. It contains audio, animation and commentary.
The New York Museum of Modern Art is using custom photography, not just taking photos from books and posting them on their website. The site allows you to zoom in close to see the brushwork. Here is a video that Art Docents might find interesting! Learn about FRESCO.
This same type of style is featured in grades 1, 3, and 4 of The Art Docent Program. Archival film footage shows Rivera demonstrating his methods at the 1939-1940 Golden Gate International Exposition. Go to the site and take a look at eight murals from the current Rivera exhibit.
Explore the murals via “hotspots” which allow you to click and see more detail and information such as the name of the building, the person and historical photos. If you have an iPad and projector in the classroom, you could show these images and video to your students to enhance your next Art Docent presentation!
Linda Rooney, deputy superintendent of Rocklin Unified School District, wrapped up the panel by noting that these kinds of resources from museums will help students meet the new California Common Core Standards. However, it is a challenge for schools to train teachers and to acquire the technology.
Rooney explained how the Art Docent Program gives students the means to learn how to use these tools and create and learn about art. She introduced us to the audience as the daughters of the creator of the program and she displayed our website and several lessons on the enormous screen in the room. After the presentation, we were greeted by several individuals interested in knowing more about our program. The curator from San Francisco’s MOMA, Museum of Modern Art, was especially interested and helpful.
We hope you will take advantage of these and other apps and websites to learn more about art, art history and to enhance your classroom presentations. We will continue to pass along our research to you to help you become even better Art Docents!
