Resources: National Gallery of Art

I'm learning that major art museums usually have awesome websites with tons of free resources. The National Gallery of Art (NGA) is no exception. I don't even know where to start, because there is just so much awesome to write about. They have an excellent site that is very easy to use (would I really recommend anything else?). There's no superfluous icons or visual clutter, it's just simple and to the point. Everything is easily accessible from the front page, you don't have to click through multiple links to get to the good stuff. And the site is definitely full of good stuff.

I'll begin with what first led me to the site: the Children's Video Tour. This page contains 50 short videos about various paintings in NGA's collection. Unfortunately you can't link to any of them specifically or re-post the videos on another site, but I can understand them not wanting to strain their bandwidth that way. I've watched a handful of them and found each one to be engaging, piquing my interest in the painting discussed.

There's more to watch on the Videos and Podcasts page. The videos here are more documentary-like, longer in length, focusing on individual artists, exhibitions, and other areas. You can also listen to various podcasts as well, which include lectures on a wide range of topics, conversations about particular artists, art movements or works in the collection, and insight into the inner workings of the museum.

You can choose from a plethora of online tours, arranged according to artist, art works, and themes. These would be a helpful addition to your curriculum, giving a fuller understanding of art history. The tours are educational and informative without going over your head.

Speaking of educational, the Education page is probably what will pique your interest the most. The Children's Video Tour, NGA Kids, Learning Resources and Classroom links are handily grouped together under the Resources heading. NGA Classroom has online lesson plans and curriculum guides, ranging from art fundamentals to more specific subjects. The Learning Resources page is "a place to borrow, browse, and download more than 300 resources." What's really nifty is they have a free loan program for teachers and homeschoolers! You can request a catalogue to find out all the materials available to for borrowing. If you don't like teaching art or don't think you can do a good job of it, this is for you. Seriously, it's free and from one of the best museums in the country, how awesome is that?!

And NGA doesn't neglect homeschoolers, they have a page specifically for you! There's a little bit of redundancy here, as all the sections I've reviewed are listed on the Homeschool page as well. But I thought it was worth mentioning, because you can bookmark that one page instead of half a dozen.

Your kids might like this last section, since it's aimed specifically at them: NGA Kids. This page is really interesting in that you can make "interactive art online." I found it to be a bit of a visual overload, not as easy to find links as the rest of NGA's website. However, there are a lot of fun activities to be found here, and your kids might like playing around with all the different games.

Another good website to bookmark for further browsing.