Art Authority Blog
By request: Art Authority K12
A perfect fit for the iPad mini: Announcing… Art Authority K12
Art Authority has been very popular in the education world, from universities to high schools and even lower grades. The iPad version of the app was adopted over two years ago by Seton Hill University’s art department, mentioned by Phil Schiller in Apple’s big education event last January, and featured as part of Apple’s Back To School promotion last summer. We also just concluded a very successful summer internship program.
We have received tremendous feedback from professors and teachers, including our favorite quote that “Art Authority has really changed Art History.” We have also added a number of the features that these educators have asked for, such as simplified “Highlights” shows for each art period, and for the app overall.
We have, however, until now, struggled with the most requested feature from K-12 teachers: removing nudity from the product. These teachers know their students, and we have certainly believed them when they said that many of their students were too immature to not get distracted by the significant amount of nudity that permeates much of Western art.
We had two problems with meeting the teachers’ request however. First, Art Authority provides access to over 55,000 western painting and sculptures, so there are, quite literally, thousands of nudes. Not just classic nude portraits, but other major works like the Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Second, many of these works are so essential to the study of western art that we felt we just couldn’t leave them out of the product. Can you imagine Art Authority without the Venus de Milo?
Art Authority K12 for iPad, a new app, solves both problems. Using automated, computer-aided and manual methods, we meticulously went through the whole Art Authority database and flagged every work that contained nudity (or other similar objectionable material, such as rape). These works are neither downloaded nor displayed by the new app.
For each major work we eliminated, we then added, where practical, a detail view of the work that we felt would be “age appropriate” for K-12 students. So, for instance, Venus’ head from Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, and the classic fingers from Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam.
Problems solved! No worries about nudity, no loss of the most important works of western art history. Art Authority K12 for iPad is 99.9% as complete a study of the western art world as the full version. All the same features, all the same artists, and nearly all the key works. And of course it’s a perfect fit for the new, education-focused iPad mini. It took us a while, but we really think it’s been worth the effort. We hope you, and your teachers, think so too!
Art, society, and social networking
Art and society have been linked for as long as there have been art and society. Art has been a part of society, and society has been a part of art.
Art Authority is a great example. As Apple iDevices have become a part of society, so has Art Authority. We love it when people come up to us at shows and say how much they’ve enjoyed or learned from the app. But we also want society to become a part of Art Authority.
As announced this week, we’re going to help you hang great art on your wall, making classic art available to classic society in a classic way. But we also want to help make classic art available to new society in new ways.
Apple has recently integrated new social networking features into iOS 6, and we’ve added these to Art Authority for iPad. You can now easily post works you love to your Twitter or Facebook account. Just tap a button while looking at any work in the app, and tweet or post that work, complete with your thoughts and comments.
And we’re going further. We’re introducing our own, art-specific social network site: community.artauthority.net. Not only does our community site give you Web-based access to the same 55,000+ works of art as the app, but it lets you comment on and rate those works (and their artists and locations) in various ways. You can even keep track of which works you’ve seen “in real life.”
Speaking of “real life,” the site is signing up a number of “real” art authorities to provide expert commentary. We’ve also integrated Prints on Demand into the site, so if you see a work you really love, you can get a customized framed print for your wall. And this blog is now part of the site too!
Of course we plan to add lots of additional features in the future, such as forums and art news. But we think what’s here today is a great start, and we’re looking forward to seeing what society thinks of the whole thing. So please do check out community.artauthority.net and let us know!
Prints on Demand
More art to more people in more ways! That’s our mantra here at Art Authority, and today is a big day in that respect. Today we’re formally introducing “Prints on Demand.” Most of you have used our Art Authority app line to look at, explore, enjoy and learn about great art. With Prints on Demand, you can now hang great art on your walls too.
Prints on Demand is integrated directly into a new, just-out version of Art Authority for iPad (version 4.7, which includes other great new features we’ll blog about shortly). It’s also available through a standalone Web site, community.artauthority.net. Either way, when looking at a work, just hit the ORDER button and you can customize and purchase your own print of the work. You can specify size, paper type (including a canvas option) and frame, to get that just-right look.
Prints on Demad is a direct result of our previously announced partnership with Bridgeman Art Library and The Image Collective. Bridgeman provides the ultra-high resolution image needed to create a print-quality version of the work (thousands of pixels on each side). The Image Collective uses their expertise and high-end equipment to actually produce the print.
We’re starting the service today with a couple hundred all-time classic works, but will rapidly be expanding that number into the thousands through Bridgeman’s extensive collection. The service is initially available throughout the US, and we plan to add Canada within the next month, with other countries after that.
So, update your version of Art Authority for iPad to 4.7, or go to community.artauthority.net. And get more art in more ways right now.
Art Education in the Future: An Unbalanced Picture
It’s hard to predict the future, but sometimes things are clearer than others. Let’s look out maybe 3-5 years or so. Just about every student has an iPad-like mobile device that’s pervasively connected to the Internet/cloud. Here are two possible sets of “class materials” for a typical art history major:
- Art History, Combined Volume by Marilyn Stokstad, Michael W. Cothren. List Price (current): $200.80. Weight: 9 pounds
- Janson’s History of Art: The Western Tradition by Penelope J.E. Davies, et. al. List Price (current): $190.00. Weight: 9 pounds
- Other similar books, for art and other classes. Cost: high. Weight: tremendous
- Pervasively-connected iPad-like mobile device. List Price (future): $200. Weight: 1-2 pounds
- Art Authority and other similar apps. List Price (current): $10. Weight: 0
- Advanced version of iBooks like “Exploring Art with Art Authority”. List Price (future): $10-$20. Weight: 0
- Khan Academy‘s Smarthistory and other similar videos. List Price: Free. Weight: 0
- Google Art Project and similar sites. List Price: Free. Weight: 0
- Other similar apps, iBooks and sites, for art and other classes. Cost: low. Weight: 0
A pretty unbalanced picture, huh? We’re very happy to be helping to make the lighter side a reality sooner rather than later.
Art Careers
Our previously announced intership program is now rolling along, with dozens of interns learning the ropes in the burgeoning digital art field while at the same time helping us to enhance our digitalized art collection. They’re also helping us implement the first stages of our recently announced partnership with Bridgeman Art Library, which involves merging the two collection databases together in preparation for adding print-on-demand capabilities to Art Authority for iPad.
Relatedly, Art Authority was just featured at the Art Career Project in an article entitled “15 Art Apps You Should Be Using.” We definitely appreciate the publicity and accolades (“one of the most beautifully designed apps on iTunes”), but we even more appreciate the recognition that we’re on the right track with our education initiatives:
- The Art Career Project Web site says “We are a group of people – much like you – who are passionate about art.” Check.
- It also says “a career in art often starts with an excellent education.” Check.
- And “We’re looking to educate you on how to educate yourself in preparation for an exciting career in art!” Check!
So thanks, Art Career Project, for doing what you do and for helping us validate that what we’re doing can really be important.
Art Authority + Bridgeman Art Library = more art more ways
Today we’re announcing a broad partnership with the world-renown Bridgeman Art Library, the end result of which will mean a whole bunch more art available in more ways to more art lovers.
Here at Art Authority we’re proud of the fact that we’ve been collecting great art and making it available through great apps for almost a decade. Well Bridgeman has been doing much the same for four decades now! We’re proud of Art Authority’s collection which brings you access to over 50,000 works of art. Well Bridgeman’s collection is measured in the hundreds of thousands! We’re proud of our high-resolution, retina-display-quality works. Bridgeman’s are print quality, which are higher resolution still.
And now we’re proud that we’re going to be able to bring much of Bridgeman’s collection to you, through future versions of Art Authority!
And there’s more. We’ve added a third partner, printing experts The Image Collective (TIC). Through TIC, we and Bridgeman will not only bring more of you more art, but we’ll bring it to you in more ways. In particular, you’ll now be able to hang Art Authority art on your walls. Through both the app and a new print-on-demand Web site, if you see a work you want on your wall, you’ll be able to purchase a framed, high-quality reproduction and have it shipped directly to you in the U.S. and Canada.
Art Authority print services, available this summer, will be the first tangible outcome of our partnership with Bridgeman and TIC. Stay tuned for further details on this and other exciting results of this amazing art alliance in the days and weeks ahead.
International Museum Day 2012
This Friday, May 18, is the 35th annual International Museum Day. As indicated in their press release, the theme of this year’s event is “Museums in a Changing World. New challenges, New inspirations.”
We think that theme is particularly appropriate. As you may know, we feel that Art Authority’s collection of 50,000+ works of western art, free iBook, and our related activities, are a big part of that changing world and those new inspirations. And, yes, some of those new challenges as well. Making a difference in this changing world was the major impetus behind our new summer intern program, as well as a major theme in the “World’s Biggest Art Museum” talk we moderated at Macworld/iWorld.
Our first Art Authority iBook – free!
Our first iBook, “Exploring Art with Art Authority” is now available through the iBook Store. And it’s free! As our announcement states, the interactive iPad-based book is “a great introduction to the app for those just getting started with it, and a great companion for others who already know and love the app.”
“Exploring Art with Art Authority” is organized in the same way as the app, with one chapter for each of the eight major art periods. Each chapter includes a brief summary of the period, a short movie showing off that period’s “room” in the iPad app’s museum, and an overview of a few of the key works from that period. A summary of the app line itself concludes the book.
If you have a chance to check out the book, please let us know what you think.
An Internship at the Intersection of Art and Technology
Today we announced the Art Authority internship program, with space for up to 100 art majors to help us enhance the database behind the Art Authority app line this summer. We’re very excited about this program, because it’s a win-win-win situation:
- We get to increase the size of the database (50,000+ works) by up to 50% while at the same time enhancing its quality with additional information on current works and higher-resolution images for the new iPad’s retina display.
- Art students get ahead-of-the-curve experience as key parts of their field transition into the digital realm. Plus they get to work on a way cool app 🙂
- Users of the app around the world, including other students, get an even more comprehensive, up-to-date version of the app.
Traditionally, an art internship would consist of moving to a big city like New York and working as a docent or other volunteer at a museum. Such an internship certainly still has its place for a certain set of students preparing for a certain set of jobs. But for others, who are already more focused on technology, getting a jump on the part of their field that they’re more likely to go into could well prove invaluable.
At the iPad 2 introduction in 2011, Steve Jobs said “It’s technology, married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.” Art Authority is quite literally the intersection of Art and Technology. And we’re looking forward to meeting a whole lot of art students there.
Art Authority Technologies, part 1
Art Authority is a great app for a number of reasons, with the most recent one being Apple’s new iPad and its retina display. There’s also of course all the classic works of art themselves, for which we can also take no credit. But we can (and do) take credit for the professionally designed rooms in which the works are displayed, and for the user interface and features of the app. Most of these elements are documented elsewhere, such as in the User’s Guide.
What’s not really documented anywhere, until now, is the critical set of technologies that really make Art Authority tick. How does Art Authority really give you, the user, access to those 50,000+ works (and 10GB) of art?
In part 1 of “Art Authority Technologies,” we thought we’d provide a quick overview of some of those key technologies. Then, in subsequent blog entries, we’ll go into more detail on each of them. So here’s the initial list:
- The Art Authority database. An industry-standard SQL collection of the “metadata” and images for each of the 1000+ artists, 500+ locations, 500+ keywords and 50,000+ works of art.
- Art Near Me. The combination of app- and server-based technologies that quickly scan the entire database to determine the set of works that best convey the availability of art near your current location.
- Art Like This. An advanced set of art analysis and classification techniques combined with server-side technologies that result in selection of the seemingly magically-derived set of works from the database that most closely match the one you are currently looking at.
- SmArt Resolution. A combination of low- and high-technology coordination techniques between the app and the database that provide you with the most appropriate resolution image in the least amount of time and using the least amount of bandwidth possible.
Much more on each of these important items soon!