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.

Artopia

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Grades

Photography - Cotton Sharecropper Family | Artopia

DOROTHEA LANGE A Closer Look Dorothea Lange has been called the greatest American documentary photographer, in part because her pictures gave dignity to people who had lost everything. This family may...

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Photography - Copia # 16 | Artopia

BRIAN ULRICH A Closer Look This picture, like all the photos in the Copia series, is candid, meaning it isn't posed. Brian Ulrich shot the series using a waist-level viewfinder so that he did not have...

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Heidi Darr-Hope's Gallery | Artopia

The work of mixed-media artist Heidi Darr-Hope is influenced by a love to travel and a need to understand the intricate balance between inner and outer experience. She has developed a personal visual...

Kristin Gudjonsdottir's Gallery | Artopia

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Kristin Gudjonsdottir's Gallery | Artopia

Multimedia artist Kristin Gudjonsdottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, studied art at the California College of the Arts and Pilchuk Glass School, and lives in North Carolina. Gudjonsdottir creates...

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Brian Rutenberg's Paintings | Artopia

Widely considered one of the finest young painters working in America today, Brian Rutenberg has gained an international audience with his landscape based abstractions. The artist received his BFA...

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Tonya Gregg's Paintings | Artopia

Tonya Gregg is a contemporary American artist who makes provocative paintings that comment on contemporary life and idenity. She attended the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts Gifted and...

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Boyd Saunders' Prints | Artopia

Boyd Saunders is a painter, illustrator, printmaker and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art. He was born on a farm in Tennessee and his work reflects a lifelong interest in storytelling and...

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Jonathan Green's Paintings | Artopia

Jonathan Green was born in Gardens Corner, in the lowcountry of South Carolina. His grandparents raised him, and his grandmother first encouraged his interest in art. He studied at the Art Institute...

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Maria Manhattan's Gallery | Artopia

Maria Manhattan is a painter, computer graphic artist and teacher who grew up in New York City. Her early computer piece "Nancy Reagan Takes the Subway" was recognized as the first interactive comic...

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Radio - The War of the Worlds | Artopia

Orson Welles and H.G. Wells A Closer Look Today it’s hard to believe Orson Welles’ broadcast of The War of the Worlds caused a nationwide panic. We are used to media productions that are not what they...

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String Instruments: Bass | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

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Kindergarten
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Brass Instruments: Tuba | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

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Woodwind Instruments: Flute | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Percussion Instruments: Bass Drum | Artopia

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Percussion Instruments: Bass Drum | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Brass Instruments: French Horn | Artopia

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Brass Instruments: French Horn | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Percussion Instruments: Cymbals | Artopia

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Percussion Instruments: Cymbals | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

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Radio - This American Life | Artopia

IRA GLASS A Closer Look This American Life first aired in 1995 on public radio station WBEZ Chicago. The producers write on their website, "We're not really formatted like other radio shows at all...

Woodwind Instruments: English Horn | Artopia

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Pre K
Kindergarten
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Woodwind Instruments: English Horn | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Woodwind Instruments: Clarinet | Artopia

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Pre K
Kindergarten
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Woodwind Instruments: Clarinet | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

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Kindergarten
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Woodwind Instruments: Oboe | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Percussion Instruments: Snare Drum | Artopia

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Kindergarten
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Percussion Instruments: Snare Drum | Artopia

Press play to hear the instrument.

Radio - John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address | Artopia

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Radio - John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address | Artopia

John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address (1961) A Closer Look John F. Kennedy rode to his inauguration with the outgoing president, Dwight Eisenhower. Robert Frost read one of his poems at the ceremony...