We welcome Elizabeth A. Carpenter (Betsy) who will share with us her love of painting. Here on a pre-COVID family visit from the USA with her husband, Gerard Winter’s older brother Peter (not the judge), Betsy has agreed to be our guest arts coach. In her first article Betsy encourages us to enjoy the art of the world from the comfort of our computer.
There’s no need to feel shut in. The art of the world is just inside your computer. Ever since the rash of closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, museums have been working behind the scenes to engage with the public through social media, updated websites and remote learning activities.
A solid resource for creative kids’ activities, museum portals also offer lecture series, artist interviews, exhibition tours, and thousands of beautiful images.
From isolation day one, the arts community united around #MuseumFromHome with humorous and edifying results. Check it out.
Nearly every museum in the world has a comprehensive searchable database of their collections and exhibitions online. The best way to familiarise yourself with the museums’ holdings is to sign on and browse away. Kind of like shopping – but not. Sure, it isn’t the real thing, but some of the zooming capacities let you get closer to the art than those security guards ever would. The possibilities are infinite, but here are some of the best from the United States:
Getty Museum
Los Angeles’ Getty Museum has pioneered and supported many digitization efforts, and theirs is a great website to start your tour. Explore their website
Recreate artworks with household items. Browse the collections, select an artwork, and get the family to reproduce with household items.
Art Institute of Chicago
You could spend the day there and it wouldn’t cost a cent! Visit them virtually
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Also chock full of art and information. Visit them virtually
The Metropolitan Museum, New York
It’s so vast that if you ever intend to visit it in person, you may want to start looking now! Visit them virtually
The Museum of Modern Art, New York
I haven’t tried these yet, but The Museum of Modern Art, NY is offering whole courses on art. Some for free. Explore the courses on offer
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
They recently debuted an online showdown of artworks that museums submit from their collections. Every 24 hours the museum is matching up two works submitted through this link and letting its followers vote on the winner, to provide points of entry for conversations on aesthetics and art history.
Colby Museum
Finally, here’s a great option if the kids want to make an interactive puzzle from fine art paintings. Try Colby Museum’s art jigsaws
This should take care of a rainy day or two – but feel free to wander through any of the great museums’ websites. And when the coast is clear – come back in and see the real deals.
About Betsy
Betsy has a Fine Arts degree from Harvard, and more than 25 years experience in collections management at New York City galleries, museums, artists and private collections, including Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Edward R. Broida Museum and Trust, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Betsy worked as a freelance art consultant. Her work in Atlanta, Georgia, and Barcelona, Spain included various clients: Philadelphia Museum of Art, Detroit Art Institute, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Barcelona, and the estate of Spanish sculptor, Juan Munoz. Her international career as an art museum registrar, collection management specialist, and cataloging professional, lead to her most recent contract to Colby College Museum of Art, and the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine.