Special Interest Page

Art of the Picture Book Syllabus

Questions to Consider

Illustration and the Art of the Picture Book

Project ECLIPSE

rojectECLIPSE

Golem

Snow White

Visual Interpretive Analysis

Testing

This online art journey is an example of a concept that could be developed for any subject area or audience. Its intent is for users to gain familiarity with a range of resources available on the WWW. Individuals (children, parents, teachers, librarians) might be encouraged to search for their favorite sites on a personal itinerary and then to invite others to share the experience of visiting these sites.

This specific art journey takes viewers on a number of different paths to:

• Sites that I have developed for my teaching (examples: ECLIPSE, Snow White, Golem, Interpretive Analyses, Visual Literacy)
• Sites that explore works of art or art forms or sites about specific artists or illustrators.
• Museum sites and other resources
• Artistic technique sites

You will find a set of questions that may help as you examine the websites that try to move beyond the criteria that have been developed by others.

It would be helpful to examine the bibliography on the Illustration and the Art of the Picture Book page.

A Study of the Golem Illustrated by David Wisniewski. Winner of the 1997 Caldecott Award, is not only an outstanding artistic achievement; it is a dramatic re-telling of a story with deep roots in history, religion, and legend.

Project ECLIPSE explores versions and variants of Mother Goose rhymes and their illustrations over time and the digitalization of several Mother Goose books. A separate segment contains the digitalization of Petra Mathers' Kisses from Rosa as well as a detailed record of its creation with the various changes that were made over time.

Snow White, A Scholarly Site. Snow White is a scholarly resource for all those interested in folk and fairy tales and, more specifically, in the tale Snow White. It is designed as a teaching tool for group use during a course, and/or for individual study. The purpose is to bring together a sizable number of resources so that the user can focus on this traditional tale and study it in different versions and variants published over an extended time frame.

Visual Interpretive Analysis of Children's Picture Book Illustration. We can educate ourselves to see and interpret pictures more astutely by studying individual images and considering alternative interpretations of those images.

On Testing Facts in Children's Literature. The tests here are self-tests intended entirely for those
interested in youth literature to verify their factual knowledge of the field.

A. Pintura, Art Detective is a playful way to examine a piece of art work.

"Ezra Jack Keats: A Multimedia Tour" uses original materials from the DeGrummond Children's Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

ArtsEdge: Linking the Arts and Education Through Technology. This site was established and continues its development under a cooperative agreement between the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts (with additional support from the U.S. Department of Education).

How a Book Is Made by Aliki. This is an online version to give you an "inside look" into a publishing house, with Aliki as the perfect guide. She is an author and illustrator of many wonderful books.

Eyes on Art. This project is part of the Pacific Bell Knowledge Network Explorer. Seven excellent art experiences for children are provided.

Art can and should inspire analysis. To carry out such analysis, however, requires understanding what questions to ask of a work. Let us take an obscure statuette as an example, and attempt to draw forth as much information as possible.

Inside Art traps the viewer inside a painting in order to solve a mystery in art history.

Why Is the Mona Lisa Smiling? is the web site which was created as a result of an international collaboration between high school students in Borlange Sweden and The Bronx called Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling? This interdisciplinary inquiry explores the mystery behind the smile, and features original Da Vinci music, an interactive quiz, a dozen Da Vinci diversions, and an oportunity to create and send postcards.

Aesop's Fables Read Aesop's Fables, in two versions for each tale, all with illustrations done by students in a computer art class.

The Many Faces of Alice A fully illustrated (by students at the Dalton School in New York), full-text version of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, with art work from both teacer and students.

Diego Rivera Web Museum is a powerful display of his magnificent works of art. DIEGO RIVERA (1886-l957), muralist painter, was one of the greatest artists in the XXth century.

Georgia O'Keeffe is a powerful artist that captured the eye of the public. Of her flowers, she wrote: "Most people in the city rusharound so, they have no time to look at a flower. I want them to see it whether they want to or not."

Gargoyles and Grotesques are the work of sculptor, Walter S. Arnold in Chicago. Do you wonder how a sculptor creates suchcreatures from blocks of stone? You are invited to an explanation of the tools and techniques of stone and marble carving.

Frida Kahlo Frida's art was influenced greatly by pain: she contracted polio at age six, and was a victim of a bus accident in her teens.

Jan Brett's Home Page This site offers trolls to armadillos on this author/illustrator's page. She has created The Mitten, That Hat,Armadillo Rodeo, The Trouble with Trolls, and Berlioz the Bear.

Official Eric Carle Web Site For fans of the famous author/illustrator and his books such as The Very Hungry Catepillar.

Dav Pilkey This is pure fun spent with the author/illustrator of The Paperboy and Kat Kong and Dogzilla.

Patricia Polacco  Information on the author/illustrator of Pink and Say, The Keeping Quilt, and The Bee Tree.

Maurice Sendak He's been called "the Picasso of children's books" and "one of the most powerful men in the United States."

Chris Van Allsburg This is an illustrated walk through Van Allsburg's books such as The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Jumanji, and The Polar Express.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an outstanding presentation of the contents of this museum. Its collections include more than two million works of art -- several hundred thousand of which are on view at any given time -- spanning more than 5,000 years of world culture, from prehistory to the present. Please visit the education pages.

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) houses an outstanding collection of modern art. "Nearly 40,000 historical and contemporary prints and books reflect the history of modern art in both range and depth. Examples of such traditional techniques as lithography, etching, screenprinting, and woodcut are featured, as are newer forms of printmaking."

The Louvre in Paris is well worth a trip on the information highway. "Divided into 7 departments, the Louvre collections incorporate works dating from the birth of the great antique civilisations right up to the first half of the XIXth century, thereby confirming its encyclopedic vocation."

Ancient Greek Artifacts at the British Museum. This is a carefully structured tour of the holdings designed to help teachers as well as students studying this era.

The DeCordova Museum is an outstanding educational museum. The website includes coverage of the exhibit Telling Stories with Pictures: The Art of Children's Book Illustration September 13 - December 28, 1997.

The Library of Congress is one of the richest resources on the www and includes digital access to untold resources.

African Art: Aesthetics and Meaning. The objects selected for this exhibit were chosen both to exemplify African aesthetic and moral principles and to display some of the finest pieces in the Bayly's large collection at the University of Virginia. Most of the pieces in the exhibit come from West African societies.

World Art Treasures Thanks to the 100,000 slides belonging to the Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation, all of them devoted to art, and including the main civilizations, such as Egypt, China, Japan, India, Europe, its purpose is to offer a different approach to art through INTERNET via the World Wide Web.

The History of Art Virtual Library provides an extremely comprehensive listing of art resources on the www, including Art History and Computer applications in Art History. It is maintained by the Birkbeck College, University of London.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Includes activities for children. Excellent opening page, with animated changes. Includes exploring "A Mysterious Mummy" and "Thousands of Dots" (about a painting by Georges Seurat).

National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC The National Gallery of Art and its collections belong to the people of the United States; its holdings include European and American paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, and selected works on paper. Full-screen views of whole paintings and details allow close study, includes information on artists and on the museum's facilities and services.

The Caldecott Medal Home Page Read about the award books and their illustrators in the official site. This medal is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.

The CyberMuse, National Gallery of Canada provides nifty opportunities to explore aspects of art.

National Museum of the American Indian is a vast resource and filled with beauty of the art and architecture.

Philadelphia Museum of Art is a vast resource. The collection of Asian art, with objects dating from the third millennium B.C. to the present, includes ceramics, sculpture, paintings, and decorative objects as well as a Japanese ceremonial teahouse, a Chinese palace hall, and a celebrated collection of Oriental carpets.

The Israel Museum Jerusalem encompasses several museums in one campus. Founded in 1965, the Israel Museum today has, in a relatively short time, achieved world class status with collections ranging from prehistoric archaeology through contemporary art and with a dynamic roster of temporary exhibitions, publications, and educational activities. It is the leading cultural institution in Israel and is one of the largest encyclopedic museums in the world.

The Guggenheim Museum The mission of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is to promote the understanding and appreciation of art, architecture, and other manifestations of modern and contemporary visual culture; to collect, preserve, and research art objects; and to make them accessible to scholars and an increasingly diverse audience through its network of museums, programs, educational initiatives, and publications.

Beach Museum of Art displays an exhibit entitled "Beyond Oz" that contains children's book illustration and an online gallery.

The Use of Visual Information in Art. This is a tutorial to demonstrate how visual information is used in art. Some of the factors considered are aspects of depth perception, color perception, and form perception.

Joseph Wu's Origami Page provides the most detailed instructions and diagrams for this art form. It also includes apage on Japanese washi.

Kodak Education Site. This site includes details and courses on digital imaging.

How to Get a Paper Crane is a set of pctures and directions for creating a paper crane.

Art Studio Chalkboard are a resource for artists and art students that focus on the technical fundamentals of perspective, shading, color and painting. They were compiled and designed by Ralph Larmann, art faculty member.

ON COLOR

Color Matters is a nifty site. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. The concept of color can be approached from several disciplines: physiology, psychology, philosophy, and art. The following will provide some starting points for an exploration of color.

Color Wheel and Color Complements is a useful and brief approach to this issue.

Color has value. This is the darkness or lightness of a particular color. We can divide these value changes into SHADES and TINTS. This site on color saturation and intensity is useful in exploring this.

Created on July 22, 1998, Last Reviewed and Updated January 2006

SCILS, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey