The Smart Museum of Art has re-launched smARTkids, its popular interactive website for children. Refreshed with an updated look and new features, the dynamic Flash-based site provides a rich variety of tools for kids—particularly those ages seven to twelve—to learn about artistic concepts and respond creatively to art. Building on the success of the original website, launched in 2004, the innovative smARTkids (http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/smartkids) now features an expanded format, improvements to site architecture and navigation, custom themes, enhanced “Art Detective” gameplay, and a video studio visit with artist Laura Letinsky.

“The smARTkids website is an excellent resource for teachers and parents to teach the language of visual art,” says Kristy Peterson, Smart Museum Director of Education. “The updated design and improved functionality of the website facilitate ease use for children and adults alike—the site looks great, it is fun to experience, and is sure to make users smile.”

The smARTkids website was developed by the Smart Museum of Art in collaboration with the award-winning Peel Interactive Media.

A major enhancement to smARTkids is the expanded “Art Detective” game. The game is an online extension of the Smart Museum’s education programs for schoolchildren and is designed to help kids understand how visual clues can reveal the larger historical and cultural context of an artwork. In the game, children navigate through a digitized museum based on the Smart. Assisted by a virtual docent, kids fill in object labels by answering questions about the various artworks they encounter. The broad selection of artworks—which are drawn from the Smart Museum’s collection and include ancient Chinese sculpture, Renaissance painting, and contemporary works—offer children ample opportunity to encounter and explore a diverse array of styles, media, and cultures.

Another new feature of the redesigned smARTkids is a video studio visit with artist Laura Letinsky. Letinsky—a photographer and Chair of the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago—offers children a glimpse into her work and discusses the path she took to become an artist. Along with the video studio visit, the “Artist Studio” section of smARTkids features reproductions of several still life photographs by Letinsky. New video visits to other artists’ studios will be added to smARTkids periodically.

Improvements to the site design make the refreshed smARTkids on a whole easier to navigate. In particular, the Art Speak section—an easy-to-use dictionary of seventy-six art terms—has been reformatted to take advantage of the new expanded screen size, enlarged to a 1024 x 768 pixel format (from 800 x 600). The Art Speak section now also features audio pronunciations, definitions, and contextual examples so that children can read and hear the new terms they encounter.

In addition to the games and resources, smARTkids includes fun interactive features that encourage children to explore and respond creatively to the art and ideas they encounter on their own. Throughout the site, kids are also able to use a virtual Sketch Book to capture their thoughts, answer questions, and respond to artworks. At the end of each session, kids can print or e-mail their Sketch Book. Users can now customize the style of smARTkids by choosing from a set of four themes based off of select works from the Smart Museum’s collection, such as a Chinese scroll painting or Frank Lloyd Wright furniture. Plus, the redesigned Artwork of the Month section features an archive of hands-on activities related to artworks from the Smart Museum’s collection.

These many improvements and expanded features make the refreshed smARTkids a fun and educational resource for kids, parents, and teachers alike.

Credits
The smARTkids Web site was created by the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, in collaboration with Peel Interactive Media. The site is hosted by Networking Services and Information Technology at the University of Chicago and can be accessed at http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/smartkids.

Development (2003) and re-design (2008) of the smARTkids site were made possible through generous grants from the Smart Family Foundation.

About the Smart Museum of Art
Located on the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus, the Smart Museum of Art houses a permanent collection of over 10,000 objects, spanning five millennia of both Western and Eastern civilizations. The scope of its permanent collections, combined with groundbreaking special exhibitions, a focus on research and teaching by University of Chicago scholars, and distinguished outreach and educational programs geared to both adults and school age children, make the Smart one of the Midwest’s most dynamic and innovative educational institutions in the visual arts.

About Peel Interactive Media
Founded in 2001, Seattle’s Peel Interactive is an award-winning interactive agency and production house. The Peel team has extensive experience in the online space and specializes in creating high-end interactive and marketing projects.

 
Smart Museum of Art
University of Chicago
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Chicago IL 60637
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http://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu
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The Smart Museum’s 2008 general operating funds have been provided in part by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and by the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency. The Museum’s exhibitions and related programs are generously supported by the Smart Family Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; the Alsdorf Foundation; Tom and Janis McCormick; Nuveen Investments; the Eloise W. Martin Fund; the Office of the Provost and the Visiting Committee on the Visual Arts, University of Chicago; and the members and friends of the Smart Museum. Education programs are supported by the Polk Bros. Foundation.