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Artopia

Artopia is a comprehensive web-based arts experience designed for middle school students, covering the visual and performing arts.

Visual and Performing Arts for Grades 6-8

Artopia is a comprehensive web-based arts experience designed for middle school students, covering the visual and performing arts. Students will learn art history via animated one-minute movies, be guided on how to closely examine important works of art, and view videos of professional artists at work.This project was supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Please note many of the web videos include transcripts.

More in this Series

Series Dance - Artopia
Dance - Artopia

Step inside Artopia's Dance lobby!

Series Media Arts
Media Arts

Step inside Artopia's Media Arts lobby!

Series Artopia Music
Artopia Music

Step inside Artopia's Music lobby!

Series Artopia's Painting Lobby
Artopia's Painting Lobby

Step inside Artopia's Painting lobby!

Series Sculpture
Sculpture
Series Theater - Artopia
Theater - Artopia
Resource Type
Critical Viewing: Cigarette Ads | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
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  • 9
  • 10
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  • 12
Critical Viewing: Cigarette Ads | Artopia
Critical viewing means taking a closer look, not being critical. It means that you are an active, rather than passive viewer. Active viewing means that you study the elements, in this case, an...
Learning About the Stage and Auditions | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 5
  • 6
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  • 8
Learning About the Stage and Auditions | Artopia
Learning About the Stage: The Green Room where actors wait to go onstage, or rest between scenes. Why is it called a Green Room? Apparently no one really knows, although there are several theories...
Sound Studio | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 8
Sound Studio | Artopia
In the theater, sound refers to sound effects and music, as well as the audibility of the actors. Adding music and sound effects, like lighting, can change the mood of a production. Sound can also...
Lighting Studio | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
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  • 8
Lighting Studio | Artopia
Theater lighting is an important aspect of the stage picture. The first thing theater lights do is to illuminate the stage and actors so they can be seen. Lighting can create the mood of a scen and...
Costume Shop: Fashion in Shakespeare's Time | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
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Costume Shop: Fashion in Shakespeare's Time | Artopia
In Shakespeare's day fashion made a major statement. Wealthy people wore expensive, uncomfortable clothes because they demonstrated a person's prosperity and high social standing. To dress the actors...
Scene Shop: How To Build A Set | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
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Scene Shop: How To Build A Set | Artopia
Scenery is a very important element to stage productions. The scenery or set helps create a time and a place. A set designer, carpenters and painters are needed to build sets. Before building a set...
Modeling a Head From Clay | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Modeling a Head From Clay | Artopia
Modeling is an additive process. The artist builds up a soft, flexible material such as wax or clay, piece by piece. These soft materials are fragile. They don’t usually last very long, so they have...
How Do You Make a Cast? | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 8
How Do You Make a Cast? | Artopia
Casting is the process of changing a sculpture made from a soft, temporary substance, like unfired clay or wax, to a hard material such as cement, bronze or steel. The artist makes a mold from the...
Carving a Figure Out of Wood | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Carving a Figure Out of Wood | Artopia
Carving is a subtractive process. A carver removes bits and pieces of a hard material, slowly revealing the desired shape. Many different things can be carved – stone, marble, wood, plaster, plastic...
Movie Soundtrack | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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Movie Soundtrack | Artopia
Learn how a movie soundtrack works by selecting music to go along with the scene.
Animation Basics | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
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Animation Basics | Artopia
Flipping from image to image very quickly creates the illusion of movement. Have you ever played with a flipbook? Try out this drag n' drop game.
Re-Mix Studio | Artopia

Interactive

Grades

  • 3
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  • 6
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Re-Mix Studio | Artopia
Be a music producer! Select a type of music and re-mix it!
Eugene O' Neill | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
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  • 8
Eugene O' Neill | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Eugene O’Neill was born in New York, New York on October 16, 1888 into an Irish-Catholic theatrical family. He spent his early days in hotels and railroad cars with his...
August Wilson | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
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  • 8
August Wilson | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan August Wilson was born on April 27, 1945 and grew up in the Hill district of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His childhood experiences in this particular community and the...
Tennessee Williams | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Tennessee Williams | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Tennessee Williams was born Thomas Lanier Williams on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi where he lived before moving with his parents to St. Louis, Missouri in...
Suzan-Lori Parks | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
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  • 8
Suzan-Lori Parks | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Suzan-Lori Parks was born on May 10, 1963 in Fort Knox, Kentucky, the daughter of an army colonel. The family moved around a lot, including a time in Germany during...
Anton Chekov | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
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  • 12
Anton Chekov | Artopia
Anton Chekhov was born in the Russian seaport town of Taganrog, near the Black Sea, on January 29, 1860. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov began writing comic short stories to support himself and his mother...
Lorraine Hansberry | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Lorraine Hansberry | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Lorraine Hansberry was born on May 19, 1930 and grew up in Chicago, Illinois—the daughter of a real estate broker when segregation and restrictive covenants meant that...
Lillian Hellman | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Lillian Hellman | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Lillian Hellman was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on June 20, 1905. She spent her early days moving back and forth between New Orleans and New York. She studied at New...