Material Detail

I found this website to be very helpful for an introductory lesson on art and art history. It gives students an opportunity to read about various techniques and the best part was to be able to try out what they had learned. It helps to create a hand's on experience which will promote a better understanding of the basic elements of art.

Technical Remarks:

Art supplies can be expensive (perhaps a reason why the starving artist image persists), but if you'd like to create for free, check this site out. The Artist's Toolkit is an interactive site where you can explore art terms, some of the history of art, watch other artists at work (an excellent feature), and create your own works of art. The site provides a strong foundation for you to build on. You can even create an image of a miner's hat with a bright light; than I would recommend using this miner's hat to explore the arts even deeper and further underground. It can lead to a whole universe of different air. The computer has changed the face of art in a variety of ways, and this site is one of those ways; easily accesible, understandable and a lot of fun. Not recommended though for artists like Jackson Pollock, where the action and movement of the entire body come into play. Other than that, you can be dressed in your Sunday best and still paint without having to worry about getting a single drop on you thanks to the wonder of the computer.

This site provides an excellent overview of the basic elements of art, which is
essential for beginning art students. The animated graphics are fabulous and
give meaningful visual representation of the elements of art. Because of the site’s
simplicity it could be useable for very young art students, but is equally
valuable for older college-level art students who have had little grounding in
the essential elements of art.

First Impressions:
The site is user friendly and has a direct connection to the art content area. The heavy graphics take a bit of time to load, but the load time is not excessive and the wait is worth the information gained from the flash visual. In addition to the movement and excitement provided by the animated graphics, the site also has rich sound to accompany the learning material. Incorporating Curriculum and Standards:
Because
the site is based around the elements of art, this provides a strong connection
to art curriculum needs. The K-12 standards in South Dakota are basic and broad in the art content area so this site is very useful for that purpose.
As part of the triad activity this site was most heavily used in the Drawing 1 class and this site helped the instructor of that class meet the SD Board of Regents goal #4: Students will understand and interpret the human experience through arts and humanities. It was a perfect fit for this class because the course is designed to introduce the students to the fundamental elements of line, shape, form, space, tone and texture through studio experiences. Students draw a range of subjects including landscape, figure and still life. These same subjects are utilized in the Artist’s toolkit.

Technical Remarks: