Whats happening in the arts and design world

In the Artists' Footsteps Posted: 01 May 2008 11:10 AM CDT 'In the Artists' Footsteps' is a website about the landscape painters who have worked in Dumfries and Galloway over a period of 200 years. The website is funded by the European Union, and Dumfries and Galloway Council.The website contains a wealth of biographical information, accessible via an A-Z name listing of artists. There are over 700 images of landscape paintings, accessible via a map/list of the geographical locations the works depict. There are also details of local art galleries and museums and their holdings of relevant pictures.Link: http://www.artistsfootsteps.co.uk/Access: Free Andy Warhol Posted: 01 May 2008 11:07 AM CDT The National Galleries of Scotland website offers this collection of podcasts that accompanied the Bank of Scotland totalART exhibition on Andy Warhol held in Edinburgh in 2007.This collection of six podcasts in MP3 format includes the talk by Tom Sokolowski, Director of the Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh opening the exhibition; Mark Francis, Director of the Gagosian Gallery on Warhol's installations; Glyn Davis, Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies, University of Bristol, on Warhol's screen prints of 20th century icons; Dr Jonathan Blackwood, Lecturer at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Fine Art in Dundee, who considers Warhol`s career from 1962-1970; Matt Warbican, Archivist at the Andy Warhol Museum on Warhol`s time capsules and art historian and critic, Jean Wainwright, on Warhol as a portrait artist, celebrity partygoer and media manipulator.Link: http://www.nationalgalleries.org/education/page/6:251/Access: Free Daguerrotypes at Harvard Posted: 01 May 2008 11:04 AM CDT Harvard Library has provided this website on their collection of daguerreotypes. The collection includes images taken by daguerreotypists, such as Matthew Brady and John Adams Whipple, and includes images of prominent scientists, writers and performers of the 19th century, including James McNeill Whistler, Jenny Lind and Tom Thumb. The collection also includes the first detailed daguerreotype of the moon taken at Harvard in 1851. The collection can be searched by collection, by photographer or portrait sitter and by subject.Link: http://preserve.harvard.edu/photographs/daguerreotypes.htmlAccess: Free Tiffany Posted: 01 May 2008 11:01 AM CDT This Web resource on the American artist and designer Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) has been provided by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York. Different sections feature Tiffany`s work ranging from stained glass windows to wood and metalwork, covering mosaics, favrile glass, lamps, enamels, ceramics, jewelry, paintings and drawings. Another section considers Tiffany`s architectural masterpiece, Laurelton Hall, overlooking Cold Spring Harbor, New York. Each section includes a number of pages with colour photographs of designs by Tiffany, with a description and provenance of each item. A short bibliography is also provided with a hyperlink to a list of New York area locations with works by Tiffany.Link: http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Tiffany/menu.htmlAccess: Free Traipsin' Woman Posted: 01 May 2008 10:59 AM CDT This website provides access to a collection of over 1,000 digitised photographs that relate to Jean Thomas (1881-1982). Known as 'The Traipsin' Woman', Jean Thomas was a photographer who "traveled the mountains of eastern Kentucky taking snapshot photographs of the mountain way of life, writing, and promoting mountain folkways. She was particularly interested in the music, crafts and language patterns of the area."The images are of musical instruments, quilts, baskets, and scenes of family and community life. They also include images of the American Folk Song Festival, which was established by Thomas in September 1930.Link: http://digital.library.louisville.edu/collections/jthom/Access: Free Japanese Woodblock Prints Posted: 01 May 2008 10:56 AM CDT The Nagoya TV Ukiyo-e Museum has a collection of over 8,000 Japanese woodblock prints known as ukiyoe (pictures of the floating world), and this website presents a virtual exhibition of many representative works from the 17th to 19th centuries. The site can be accessed in English and Japanese, and in various ways, and each image is accompanied by a brief description. The List section categorises the prints into: portrait; landscape; sumo and kabuki; and eccentric characters. The works of individual artists (Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi) can be accessed via the Collection section, but the images here are quite small; much larger versions can be viewed via the List section.Link: http://www.nagoyatv.com/ukiyoe/museum/Access: Free The Future Designer Posted: 01 May 2008 10:53 AM CDT The first of a series of ThinkTanks from the V&A Museum on future issues facing contemporary design. This ThinkTank looks at The Future Designer. Watch the videos and join in the online debate.Link: http://www.vam.ac.uk/thinktank1/Access: Free Royal Opera House Collections Online Posted: 01 May 2008 03:35 AM CDT This website provides access to the Royal Opera House collections' catalogue and performance database. The Performance Database is a catalogue of every performance at the Royal Opera House from 1732 to the present day. It is divided into three levels: work (creators and premieres); production (director and design team); and performance (dancers, singers, and music staff). Currently online are all the works performed by the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet (and their earlier names) since 1946, as well as all new productions and first night casts of each production. Similar data for the Birmingham Royal Ballet will be available shortly, and nightly performance records will be added on a regular basis. The database can be searched by title, person, company, character, and date. Records are linked to items in the Collections Catalogue, such as costumes worn in a certain production, and therefore searches can be undertaken across both sets of information. In addition, the website offers interactive 'Highlights from the Collections', allowing users to focus in detail on certain items, through magnifying images, brief textual explanations, and audio clips. The website launched with three highlights: the costume for Turandot worn by Amy Shuard and Birgit Nilsson, designed by Cecil Beaton in 1963; Constant Lambert's score for Frederick Ashton's ballet Dante Sonata (1940); and an architectural detail of the theatre.Link: http://www.rohcollections.org.uk/Access: Free Documentary Filmmakers Group Posted: 01 May 2008 03:31 AM CDT British documentary website run by the Documentary Filmmakers Group (DFG) in association with the British Council. The DFG is a national organisation working to promote documentary filmmaking talent and innovation in the UK. It is a non-profit organisation founded in 2001 and their aim is to encourage, stimulate, promote and support the growth of a strong community of documentary filmmakers and film audiences.The website contains information on British documentaries. There is an events section where one can find listings of events happening all over the UK including screenings and training events. There is also a section on festivals with details of current festivals and upcoming submission deadlines. There is a directory of films and filmmakers which can be searched or browsed by category or theme. Each entry contains a synopsis and crew details. The resources section contains articles, interviews, links and reviews on documentary issues.Link: http://www.dfgdocs.com/Access: Free Maps: Finding Our Place in the World Posted: 01 May 2008 03:28 AM CDT Innovative interactive Flash recreation of an exhibition of historical maps that was held as part of The Festival of Maps in Chicago, 2007-2008. The website recreates the exhibition layout in a 'fly-around' isometric form. The exhibition included fictional maps, such as those by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Bernard Sleigh's 'Anciente Mappe of Fairyland'. Clicking on exhibits brings up a pop-up box with an image and text about that exhibit.Link: http://map.mapnetwork.com/venue/chicago/fieldmuseum/Access: Free