Digital Resources and Interactive Tools
Interactive Tools for Young Artists
Muséosphère: 360-degree tours of the lushest rooms in 13 of Paris’s municipal museums.
HEY CLAY ANIMALS: Want to teach your kid clay modeling with fun? HEY CLAY® makes it easy. Starting with simple balls and sausage shapes you will soon make amazing characters, just like real sculptors!
Sculpt+: Sculpt+ is a digital sculpting and painting app, designed to bring the sculpting experience on to your smartphone, sculpt anywhere anytime!
Tallinn Art Hall, Estonia: Tallinn Art Hall has produced high-resolution video walk-throughs shot from fixed positions, within each walk-through you can click any object to pause the pan and scrutinize each sculpture or print.
ArtFlow, Paint & Draw Sketchbook: Convert your device into a digital sketchbook with this free App. Art Flow includes more than 80 paint brushes, smudge, fill and an eraser tool.
MediBang Paint: a FREE lightweight digital painting and comic creation program that comes loaded with brushes, fonts, pre-made backgrounds, and other resources. MediBang Paint is available on Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS.
Virtual Tours at the Vatican Museums: Awe inspiring, immersive views of the Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms, and more!
Adobe DRAW: Adobe Draw is a fun and easy tool for digital drawing. Use customizable brushes to draw, design, and style your art. Free in the App Store and Google Play.
iPastel: A painting app for all artists, whether you’re experienced or just starting out. Perfect for creating beautiful works of art or a quick sketch whenever you have a burst of inspiration.
The Palace Museum: The Palace Museum in Beijing, China offers 15 virtual tours that put you right in the heart of this architectural and cultural marvel. Established in 1925, the Palace Museum was installed in the imperial palace of two consecutive dynasties, the Ming (1368-1644) and the Qing (1644-1911). It is one of the most prestigious museums in China and the world at large. We recommend starting with the stunning tour of the Garden of Compassion and Tranquility!
Tinkercad: The basic principle behind Tinkercad is to place and adjust simple objects like spheres and cubes, which can then be added to or removed from each other in order to create more complex shapes. The simple concept and clear visualization make 3D modeling easy for anyone. Tinkercad is a free online tool, which means it works in any browser with an Internet connection. No installation is necessary and all designs are stored in the cloud, making it easy for kids to find and return to their designs whenever they want.
Solidworks Apps for Kids: This free web-based collection of apps is designed to help kids explore the world of CAD. Currently, the collection consists of five tools: Capture It, Shape It, Style It, Mech It, and Print It. The modules are easy to use, with simple interfaces and features. Focusing on different aspects of the computer-aided design and manufacturing processes, the various modules can be mixed and matched to accomplish specific goals. For example, a child looking to model something for 3D printing might use the Shape It and Print It apps. All you need is an Internet connection and a SOLIDWORKS account.
TATE Kids: Provided by the Tate, this amazing online resource for young artists has much to offer. On this website you can find free games and quizzes, art activities and tools, art collections from the four Tate museums, explore homework help and share your art with the Tate Kids gallery.
Start with Art!: This fun educational tool is curriculum based and offers high quality animated videos and learning activities through four lessons. The app features three fun characters– Furnace, Ruby and Tickles– who help children learn about the world of art and creativity. The app meets the National Standards for the Visual Arts.
The Frick Collection: The Frick was one of the first museums to offer an online virtual tour of its expansive collection of art and artifacts. Using a digital map, you can place yourself anywhere in the museum and enjoy a 360-degree experience. Approach whatever pieces interest you and enjoy detailed descriptions of everything on view.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Since the museums are currently closed, we wanted to bring some of these amazing virtual tours of popular museums to your attention! This award-winning series of six short videos invites viewers around the world to virtually visit The Met’s art and architecture in a fresh, immersive way. Created using spherical 360° technology, it allows viewers to explore some of the museum’s iconic spaces as never before.
Doodle Buddy Paint Draw App: Doodle Buddy is the most fun you can have with your finger! It’s for everyone–from the serious artist to someone just starting out. It’s a simple, artistic medium that’s not quite like anything else. Stretch yourself within it’s constraints and see what you can make.
Drawing Pad: Drawing Pad provides users with a robust tool set, including various paint brushes, pencils, crayons, stamps, markers, paper backgrounds, and an eraser. It takes mere minutes to create lovely, finished works of art and, should you choose, share them with friends and family via email, Twitter, or Facebook.
Bomomo: Children can experiment to their heart’s content on this website. There’s a range of interesting tools and the best way to discover what you can do is to simply try them. Click one of the icons at the bottom of the screen, then move and click your mouse to make a cool abstract composition. If you can’t save the creation, try taking a screen grab of it.
Sketches: (iOS app) This app provides an elegant tool for older youth. It has no stamps or distractions, so it helps you concentrate on drawing. You can import photos into it and also use watercolor in a drawing. There’s a free and a Pro version, and the free version generously allows users to try most features.
Scrap Coloring: If your kids love to color, they’ll enjoy playing with digital patterns using Scrap Coloring. There are many templates to choose from and the areas within these can be filled with either solid color or a range of patterns. The patterns can also be reconfigured by adjusting the colors.
Scribblify: (iOS and Android app): This free app has a huge range of brushes, backgrounds and colors that encourage kids to play with color, lines and symmetry. The app is easy to use and kids can start drawing instantly. If you want more information on the app, the Scribblify website explains everything. The app is free but you can pay for more tools in a Premium version.
Resource Links
Ceramics
Ehren Tool: Ceramic Artist & Veteran
Gerardo Monterrubio: Artist Talk
Ceramic Artist, Richard Notkin
30 Artists Taking Pottery to the Next Level
Inside the Clay Studio of Tung Chiang | Heath Ceramics
Teapot Workshop with George Dymesich
Horsehair Pottery with Randy Brodnax
Randy Brodnax walks us through horsehair pottery and a raku firing at Ceramic Services, located in Ontario, CA during his workshop with Don Ellis. In the video, you will learn about this alternative firing technique, which involves placing horsehair and feathers on the ceramic surface when hot. Brodnax also demonstrates how to color the surface by spraying on ferric chloride.
Vincente Garcia, Smoked Feather Pottery
Vincente Garcia is a ceramics and steel artist who has been working with clay for 38 years. In 1984, he learned how to smoke feathers into clay and began using his own hair as well. This technique is similar to Native American horsehair pottery. Garcia also specializes in raku-style pottery, which originated in Japan.
Warren MacKenzie: A Potter’s Hands
At age 90, Warren MacKenzie (February 16, 1924 – December 31, 2018) maintained an active schedule in his studio and continued to hold international influence in the field of ceramics. This short video is a 20-minute segment of his feature length documentary focusing on his life and work.
African Pottery Forming & Firing
This documentary provides an in-depth exploration of the five most important and popular techniques implemented by potters living in Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Ghana. These techniques include concave mold, convex mold, coiling, direct pull, and hammer and anvil. The film also includes footage of two distinct firing styles. You can see Bwa, Jelly, and Mossi potters in Burkina Faso, the Ashanti potters in Kumasi Ghana, and Igbo and Yoruba potters in Nigeria.
Shaping Ceramics: Ceramicists in Action
In this video, you can see Antonia Salmon, Ray Silverman, and Janet Haig at work in their studios. This film was produced for the exhibition Shaping Ceramics: From Lucie Rie to Edmund de Waal at the Jewish Museum London.
From the Fire: Contemporary Korean Ceramics
In this video from The Asian Art Museum, contemporary Korean ceramic artists Sung Min, Kwon Shin, Kim Jin Kyoung, and Park Nae Heon discuss their creative practices.
Paying Honest Attention. This documentary gives a gentle and revealing insight into one of Denmark’s leading potters. It follows Hjortshøj’s daily life; collecting clay from the local beach for her glazes, and throwing and making pots in her studio. She talks about the firing of her two-chamber wood-fired salt kiln and its role in producing the decorative aspects of her work. We learn of her influences both within and outside of the Danish ceramic tradition and the inspiration she takes from the nature of the island.
Lee Kang-Hyo: ‘Onggi Master’ (2014)
This documentary tells the story of Lee Kang-hyo’s search for a beautiful life, through his work with clay and the love of his family. Set against the backdrop of his South Korean studio, it gives an insight into the spiritual journey that plays a vital part in his artistic practice. Lee is world-famous for combining the traditional Korean technique called Onggi – a technique that allows him to make enormous, often man-sized pots and the puncheon (buncheong) decorating technique. Watch him constructing three of these giant Onggi pots over a five-day period, culminating in an exciting explosion of glaze and color as Lee sets about decorating them in his inimitable fashion.
Ken Matsuzaki: “Elemental” (2013)
Ken Matsuzaki is a Japanese potter working from Mashiko who enjoys an international reputation. He apprenticed with the late Tatsuzo Shimaoka, who in turn had apprenticed with Shoji Hamada. Matsuzaki’s work can be seen in some of the world’s most prestigious private collections. This 45-minute film shows him throwing in his workshop and features unique footage of him firing his Anagama kiln, with the help of British potter, Phil Rogers, who comments on the process. The film ends with Matsuzaki’s 2007 major exhibition at the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, Rutland in the East Midlands of England.
John Baymore: What Makes a Tea Bowl a Chawan?
Adjunct Professor of Ceramics at New Hampshire Institute of Art, John Baymore, lectures at NCECA 2016 about the aesthetic and philosophical themes that make a tea bowl a chawan.
Japan Spirit and Form #6: Japanese Tea Bowls
“The Cosmos in the Hand” is the sixth episode of the NHK series, Japan: Spirit and Form, which focuses entirely on Japanese tea bowls. This is an in depth look at the history, traditions, and aesthetic trends of tea bowls. The roots and influence of Chinese ceramics on Japanese pottery is also explored as well as the influence of Japanese pottery on European artists and potters.
Building a Ceramic Studio in your Apartment
Lynn Goodman, Ceramic Artist and EA Art School Instructor, is keeping busy during our studio hiatus. Currently, Lynn is setting up a DIY ceramic studio in her apartment. Follow her on Instagram to keep up with her journey. And if you’re interested in setting up your own home studio, email Lynn at [email protected] for some great advice!
Phil Rogers Firing his Wood Kiln 2008
Phil Rogers: 2008 Wood Kiln Opening
With the National Council on Education for Ceramic Arts Annual Conference canceled, visit the Clay Share Con site to stay up to date and connected to the field of ceramics arts. This site provides 5 days of clay demonstration videos, discounts, and giveaways. Students can watch live, enter giveaways, or view all recorded events according to their own schedule. Organized by Jessica Putnam-Philips, potter, educator, founder and head instructor at Clay Share. Jess will be doing most of the demos and announcing all the prize winners live.
Mixed Media
Art Made in Adversity: Artist and educator Allison Smith shares her thoughts and library of books about art made in adverse circumstances.
What Makes a Masterpiece?: What do we mean when we call an artwork a MASTERPIECE? Who decides which art becomes one? And what artists make them?
Carmen Herrera: Special Free Screening in honor of Carmen Herrera’s upcoming 105th birthday on May 30th.
The $150,000 Banana: Artist Maurizio Cattelan duct taped a banana to a wall, titled it “Comedian”, and sold 5 editions of the artwork for as much as $150,000 each. Why did it capture our attention and curiosity?
8 Artists: Advice to the Young
PBS Digital Studios makes the case for political art being an important tool to understand significant events in world history. Host, Sarah Urist Green, explores some of the most powerful artworks ever made including Pablo Picasso’s Guernica, Kathe Kollwitz’s prints, Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square, Iri and Toshi Maruki’s Hiroshima Panels, and Martha Rosler’s House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home photomontages.
Artist in Focus: Rusudan Khizanishvili
Born in Russia, Rusudan Khizanishvili is a contemporary artist who lives and works in the country of Georgia. Her work is made primarily using oil paints to create works of art that verge on the surreal, with their chaotic atmosphere and interesting takes of the human form Rusudan transports the viewer to a unique dream world that borders on the nightmarish. Khizanishvili’s work is featured in an online exhibit titled Women Artists of Assembly Room at our partner gallery, Assembly Room NYC.
Art Talk: An Interview with Nick Cave at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston
Artist Nick Cave spent several days installing his solo exhibition at the ICA Boston in February. While he was there, he was interviewed about the evolution of his work, the surprising inspiration behind his legendary Soundsuits, and what it feels like to put one on.
Riggs received a BFA from RISD in 1994 and completed an MFA at Indiana University in 1997. After completing her graduate studies, Nora moved to New York City where she worked as a night security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art while continuing her creative practices in her free time. Nora currently resides and works in Florence, MA. She is featured in an online exhibit titled Women Artists of Assembly Room at our partner gallery, Assembly Room NYC.
This American multimedia artist is based in Berlin, Germany and completed her MFA at the New York Academy of Art in 2010. After spending nine years working and exhibiting in New York, she moved to Berlin in 2015 to continue her practice. Colavita was recently featured in an exhibit titled “It’s All Chemical” at our partner gallery Assembly Room NYC.
Takashi Murakami “Baka” at Perrotin, Paris (October 16 – December 21, 2019)
In this short video, multimedia artist Takashi Murakami, presents the works on view in his exhibition “Baka” at Perrotin, Paris.
Yayoi Kusama Interview: BBC Newsnight (2017)
Kusama is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. This interview with Japan’s legendary artist who has been painting polka dots ever since she started as an artist. In this video, she talks about several of her works and the Argentinian director visits the Japanese polka-dot pioneer’s Tokyo studio as well.
David Hockney on Vincent Van Gogh Van Gogh Museum (2019) (Spanish Subtitle)
David Hockney is a British painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century. In the video Hockney shares, “His paintings are full of movement. What people love about Van Gogh’s paintings is that all the brush marks are visible and you can see how they are painted. When you’re drawing one blade of grass you’re looking and then you see more. And then you see the other blades of grass and you’re always seeing more. Well, that’s exciting to me and it was exciting to Van Gogh. I mean, he saw very clearly.”
Shara Hughes Interview: Changing the Way We See- Louisiana Channel (2019)
Shara Hughes (b. 1981) is an American painter, who is particularly known for her colorful invented landscapes. In 2017, Hughes was included in the Whitney Biennial, and her works are held in many private and public collections. She lives and works in New York City.
Ai Weiwei: With Out Fear or Favor- BBC Imagine (2011)
Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist active in sculpture, installation, architecture, photography, film, and curation. His powerful works focus on social, political and cultural issues. This video demonstrates how his life and art reflect his belief that, “It’s only when art connects to ordinary feelings and ordinary common sense that it becomes more powerful.” Highlights include his installation with 100 million ceramic sunflower seeds. This video is in Mandarin and English with subtitles.
Louise Nevelson: 1978 Interview
Robert Rauschenberg: Pop Art Pioneer
George Condo Interview: The Way I Think
George Condo (b. 1957) is an American contemporary visual artist working in the mediums of painting, drawing, sculpture and printmaking. Condo mixes input from art history’s masters – such as Velasquez, Manet and Picasso – with elements of American Pop Art. He distorts and renews this material so that it stands out and becomes his own: a kind of strange hybrid that blurs boundaries between the comic and the tragic, the grotesque and the beautiful, the classic and the innovative. As part of the wild art scene in New York in the early 1980s, Condo was close to painters such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, and worked for Andy Warhol’s Factory, applying diamond dust to silkscreen. Condo’s work is in the permanent collections of MoMA, the Whitney Museum, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Broad Foundation in Los Angeles, Tate Gallery in London, Centre George Pompidou in Paris and Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo, among others. He is the recipient of an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1999) and the Francis J. Greenberger Award (2005). Condo lives and works in New York City.
