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Visual & Performing Arts

Digital Art

Digital Art

Getting Started

Think about the terminology that you need to 'capture' the material needed. Keep in mind, boundaries are not clear-cut between styles and some artists cross perceived boundaries. This can give you many choices for your research, but can also make it hard to stay focused on a topic precise enough for a good paper. This is also a newer field, so some of the more traditional resources such as encyclopedias may not hold much for this topic, but this will change as publications become more available.

  • Internet Art  N7433.8 .G73 2004 
  • Digital Art N72.T4 P38 2003 
  • Snap to Grid: A User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures  QA76.9.C66 L86 2000

 

Useful Keywords

Keywords can be subject to interpretation by a computer search function in ways you never imagined! Try to be specific in your search. Use 'virtual art' or 'computer-generated art' instead of 'digital art'. You can also look for specific tools. media or artists. 

Useful Subject Terms

Can't think of terms to accurately describe your topic?  Library catalogs use specific subject headings to group related books together. 'Art' is such a large topic, you will want to think of ways to narrow it down, by time period, geography, style, specific artist, culture, etc. Ask a librarian to help, or here are some examples to think about:

Browse the Book Stacks
Sometimes, just looking through the shelves can turn up works you would not have considered otherwise. Using the Library of Congress subject system, Art is shelved in the N call number area, but digital art involving computer technology or technique can also be found in the QA76.9 area. The Wikipedia online encyclopedia provides a list of the subclasses in the N area so you can see how this is organized.

Genre Headings
Genre refers to a type of book or other information (e.g., videos) rather than the topic (as with a subject heading search.) A very important type of information in the Art discipline is exhibition catalogs. CSUSM has a number of these, and to find them is by selecting GENRE as the search field, instead of the default KEYWORD, and then type in Exhibitions. There are other art-related genres such as Video Art (recordings made of interviews with artists or exhibits) and Electronic Journals--Arts (full text journals in our databases or on the internet.) The searchable categories for this type of search continues to grow, so explore!

 

 

Internet Sources

Your instructor may allow use of some web pages you find on the Wild Wild Web. NOT ALL SITES ARE OF EQUAL VALUE TO YOU AS A RESEARCHER. Exercise caution with statements you find and look for references lists and citations for supporting documentation. Without careful fact-checking and research, you don't know what is truth and what is fiction, but the instructor grading your paper is going to know! Click on a link below to open a page of reliable sites you can check out:

Before getting started, you might want to refer to this reference book in our collection: Art Information and the Internet: How to Find it, How to Use It at REF N59 .J66 1999. This discusses, among other topics, museum web sites, search strategies and more. See the Museums page for online art collections hosted by museums from around the world.

Art Links Art Gallery Worldwide: Digital Art
List of links to artists and galleries in no particular order. Click on the MORE to see a fuller description of each site.

Digital Millenium Copyright Act
Protect yourself by knowing the law regarding use of digital images and information. It is NOT true that anything on the web is free for use. The US Copyright Office offers a summary.

Digital Performance Archive
Based in England, this site attempts to archive current activity in digital arts as well as provide access to past work.

Histories of Internet Art: Fictions and Factions
A variety of interactive and digital art and artists (including biographical information and interviews), hosted by the University of Colorado Art Department.

International Digital Art Awards
Provides both information on the award (The Harries) and digital exhibition space.

MAAP : Multimedia Arts Asia Pacific
Links to artists, organizations, resources and events for the artist working throughout Asia (including Australia and India)

Truly Virtual Web Art Museum
Current and archived exhibits of cyberart, virtual art and animation.

Wikipedia: Digital Art
While any content in Wikipedia should be evaluated carefully, this site offers useful links to various aspects of digital art.  

Free-access Journals

ArtsJournal.com
A combination of weblog and newswire, updated daily, that examines issues affecting the arts such as copyright, artists, performers and more. You can follow the Visual Arts link to focus on more specific postings.

Crossings: Electronic Journal of Art & Technology
Peer-reviewed journal looking at all aspects of art and technological applications.

deviantART
Much of the site is commercial, but the images and blog could be useful.

DigitalThread
Much of the site is commercial, but there are useful links to fonts and Photoshop coding.

Directory Of Open Access Journals
Click on "visual arts" to see freely-available full text of arts-related online journals.