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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
Garcia Lorca | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Garcia Lorca | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan García Lorca was born Federico García Lorca on June 5, 1898, in Fuente Vaqueros in the Spanish province of Granada. As a child, he expressed his creativity and vivid...
Camille Claudel | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Camille Claudel | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Camille Claudel was born on December 8, 1864 in Fère-en- Tardenois, Aisne, in northern France, and moved with her family to Paris in the early 1881. At an early age...
Constantin Brancusi | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Constantin Brancusi | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Constantin Brancusi was born in Pestisani, a village in Southern Romania, on February 19, 1876. He studied at the Craiova School of ArtsCrafts, the Bucharest School of...
David Hammons | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
David Hammons | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan David Hammons was born in 1943 in Springfield, Illinois and grew up there—the youngest of ten children. As a student he was placed in vocational courses, but drawing...
Maya Lin | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Maya Lin | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Maya Lin was born and raised in the small college town of Athens, Ohio on October 5, 1959. Her parents fled China in 1949, just before the Communists took over. They...
Marisol Escobar | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Marisol Escobar | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Marisol Escobar was born on May 22, 1930 to Venezuelan parents in Paris, France. She spent her childhood in Europe, Venezuela, and the United States--obtaining American...
Richard Serra | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Richard Serra | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Richard Serra was born in San Francisco on November 2, 1938. While he was in college at the University of California he supported himself by working in steel mills. In...
Modeling - Octet 2 Blue | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Modeling - Octet 2 Blue | Artopia
Roseline Delisle A Closer Look Octet 2 Blue is an abstract form, but it could almost be a twirling dancer in a billowing skirt. Roseline Delisle calls her sculptures "humanistic." She imagines that...
Modeling - Up Against It | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Modeling - Up Against It | Artopia
Robert Arneson A Closer Look What do you like about Robert Arneson's Up Against It? Is it the texture that defines the balding man or is it his expression? Notice how the details in this ceramic...
Modeling - Lola | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Modeling - Lola | Artopia
Georgia Blizzard A Closer Look Form is a primary consideration in Georgia Blizzard's ceramic artwork Lola. Look at the rounded figure of this woman. Every feature of her body is voluminous. While the...
Modeling - Bust of Warrior | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Modeling - Bust of Warrior | Artopia
Anonymous A Closer Look What elements of design do you think about when you look at Bust of a Warrior? What shapes do you see? Can you see how the artist has turned flat shapes into forms? The two...
Site Specific Art - Taratantara | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
Site Specific Art - Taratantara | Artopia
Anish Kapoor A Closer Look Look at the enormous bright red form that Anish Kapoor has built! Form is the three dimensional representation of an object. Notice the sleek form of Kapoor's artwork. It...
Site-Specific Art - Spoonbridge and Cherry | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Site-Specific Art - Spoonbridge and Cherry | Artopia
Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen A Closer Look Spoonbridge and Cherry is an excellent example of proportion in sculpture. It is a gigantic version of a spoon that you would use to eat an ice...
Installation Art - Lap Pool | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Installation Art - Lap Pool | Artopia
Dale Chihuly A Closer Look Can you imagine swimming in a lighted sculpture of colorful glass? Look at the richness of the colors as the swimmer floats over the glass forms. It's as though she is at...
Earthworks - Spiral Jetty | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Earthworks - Spiral Jetty | Artopia
Robert Smithson A Closer Look The movement of Spiral Jetty takes off from the shoreline to the center of the spiral. Smithson used black rock and earth to make this piece. The consistency of the...
Ephemeral Art - Icicle Star | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Ephemeral Art - Icicle Star | Artopia
Andy Goldsworthy A Closer Look Look at the beautiful form Andy Goldsworthy has created using icicles. What an unusual material! It looks just like its name, Icicle Star. Each icicle is a straight line...
Casting - Reversed Double Helix | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Casting - Reversed Double Helix | Artopia
Takashi Murakami A Closer Look The double helix is the structure of the DNA molecule, a twisted ladder-like stack of building blocks called nucleotides. Our DNA makes us who we are. Why do you think...
Casting - Queenie II | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Casting - Queenie II | Artopia
Duane Hanson A Closer Look Queenie II was in an exhibit once at the Nevada Museum of Art. The night before the show opened a false fire alarm went off. When the firefighters arrived they were...
Casting - The Bronco Buster | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Casting - The Bronco Buster | Artopia
Frederic Remington A Closer Look Look at the movement in The Bronco Buster. It seems to jump right out of the metal cast. The horse rears up on its hind legs, pushing the cowboy into the air...
Casting - Spider | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Casting - Spider | Artopia
Louise Bourgeois A Closer Look Line is one of the main elements of design in Spider. Look how the lines lead up from the ground to the body of the spider. This is such a simple sculpture, yet its...
Casting - Monument to Balzac | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Casting - Monument to Balzac | Artopia
Auguste Rodin A Closer Look What expression has Auguste Rodin given his Monument to Balzac? What does it tell you about the writer? Rodin was an Impressionist, interested in how light affected an...
Jackson Pollock | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Jackson Pollock | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Jackson Pollock was born on January 28, 1912 in Cody, Wyoming. He spent most of his childhood in Arizona and California. In 1929, Pollock moved to New York City to...
Pablo Picasso | Artopia

Photo

Grades

  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
Pablo Picasso | Artopia
Illustration by Maria Manhattan Pablo Picasso was born on October 25, 1881 in Malaga, Spain. He was a brilliant art student and the son of a drawing and art teacher. His family moved to Barcelona, and...