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We are all about Art!
Here Are Some Great Moments in Art History
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NOTE: Use the slide out menu at left to link to and view the pages of the Home Info section
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Welcome to Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery |
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Online Resources |
| The diagram below shows the four easy steps you need to know, to make your way around this site. Read this through first and then give it a try. Below our diagram is the Whirlwind Tour of the History of Art, to start off. Our site will delve into all types of art mediums and will expand as time goes on.
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Literature Portal
Culture Canada
Virtual Museum of Canada
Artdaily.com
Art Gallery of Ontario
National Gallery
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1. Make your first selection from this table of contents. You will note that the topic names are actual artistic disciplines. When you land on each of these individual pages, you will find some interesting articles.
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2. Note in the diagram, the area where our 2 point is placed. Put your mouse cursor on this area and you will see that another menu slides out revealing the links for this topic. Try it now, on this page. These links take you to the actual pages of this sites members.
3. On each topic page, we have included the source links for our articles. If you click on any of these, you will leave our site. We don't want you to leave, of course. So have a really good look around and bookmark the site as a favorite before you use these links.
4. Is this site too big for your screen? IMPORTANT!! This webpage is best viewed with screen resolution 1024*768. It is also recommended that you use the Internet Explorer browser, version 5 or better to view this site.
The browser portrayed in our diagram is Internet Explorer. The arrow shows exactly where the back button is situated for IE, as well as Netscape Navigator. ***This website and most sites on the WWW are designed to be viewed with Internet Explorer, so if you aren't using IE right now, your enjoyment of this site will not be as fully gratifying.***
Ultimately, our site will hold the art work of 240 visual artists. We will work diligently to bring you articles which will broaden your scope of both modern art and art history. We hope you will love what you see and return many times in the future. ENJOY! Please pass the word of our site on to your friends, family and any artists (including yourself) who would enjoy a web presence with the Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery. For more details on how to subscribe to this service |
...And Now A Whirlwind Tour of the History of Art
30,000-10,000 B.C.: During
the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age, cave paintings, and
small sculptures like the Venus of Willendorf, c.30,000-25,000
B.C.E. (a limestone fertility carving of a woman with exaggerated
bits) begin popping up in places like present day France and
Spain.
10,000-8000 B.C.: The Mesolithic
Period or Middle Stone Age sees people beginning to settle in
pseudo-farming communities. Cliff faces become canvases as people
who are driven by thoughts of magic and hunting, paint with
dirt and animal fat.
8000-3000 B.C.: As the New
Stone Age or the Neolithic Period arrives; folks are living
in village-like settings. They grow things and keep animals
within their sight as simple architectural structures are built
and richly decorated pottery is created. Stonehenge and other
megaliths (big things) are constructed in what are now England
and Scotland. Prehistoric art continues in various parts of
the globe including North and South America.
3500-331 B.C.: In Mesopotamia
(roughly between present day Iran and Turkey) people construct
ziggurats (palaces) as bronze sculptures, rock carvings and
wooden musical instruments adorned with gold are created. Sumerians,
Assyrians and Persians leave their artistic mark as they float
in and out of the area.
3200-1070 B.C.: In the land
we call Egypt, people with a strong belief in the afterlife
create paintings and elaborate sculptures used to decorate tombs.
The Great Sphinx is constructed from sandstone while limestone
forms the base of the pyramids and temples.
3000-1100 B.C.: The Minoans
on the island of Crete and the Mycenaeans of Greece create what
we now call Aegean art. Gorgeous wall murals, and dazzling ceramic
ware are created in between natural disasters and wars.
800-323 B.C.: After creating
simplified kouros (male) and kore (female) figures, the Greeks
go wild portraying perfectly proportioned bodies of young men
and women. The Parthenon is built, columns have personality
and vase painting flourishes.
323-150 B.C.: The Hellenistic
Period begins when Alexander the Great expires and his empire
is liquefied. The art of this time is symbolic of the breakdown
as pain, suffering, ecstasy and some other emotions are expressed.
Later, the Etruscans fabricate pottery and sculpture as funerary
offerings - not unlike the Egyptians.
509 B.C.-337 A.D.: The Romans
conquer Greece and proceed to lop off the heads of many Greek
sculptures. Even so, the Romans appreciate the art of Greece
and begin to "borrow" their artistic concepts. Large scale works
are common, as are mosaics, fresco paintings and arches.
373-1453.: When the Roman
Empire dissolves and Christianity and Islam begin to compete,
the Middle Ages arrive. In what is now Europe, Vikings carve
ships, the Huns depict animals in their art and the Celts design
metalwork and stone crosses. Meanwhile, the Byzantine era sees
people making glorious mosaics, paintings and small-scale sculptures.
Later, Islamic mosques are constructed and Carolingian illuminated
manuscripts are created.
1000-1500.: The Romanesque
Style features symbolism, large figures and great French Cathedrals.
The Gothic style is rooted in architecture and other forms of
art are made to help embellish the houses of the Lord.
1400-1600.: A rebirth of
the arts begins in Italy. Spreading throughout Western Europe,
the Renaissance is established and will later be considered
the most important movement in art history. Oil paint is used,
the Mona Lisa's smile is born and Michelangelo tackles the Sistine
Chapel ceiling.
1600-1700.: Dramatic, emotional
works of art are made during the Baroque era. Curvy figures,
bold self-portraits and genre paintings (images of everyday
people) are popular.
1700-1750.: In France, a
relaxed, playful art style known as Rococo develops. People
dance and sing their way through art.
1750-1880.: Neo-Classicism
originates in Rome and spreads in reaction to the utter excesses
of Baroque and Rococo. Scenes from Roman history become en vogue
and copies of antique art are all the rage. The French Revolution
is captured by artists like Jacques Louis David, while across
the ocean, colonial American painters put oil to canvas as Neo-Classical
buildings are constructed.
1800-1880.: Romanticism,
a somewhat vague movement involving violent activity, bold brush
strokes, and rich colors take over.
1830s-1870.: The Realists,
at first inconspicuous, come to the forefront. Nature and life
is for the first time depicted in an honest and unsentimental
way. Meanwhile, the Pre-Raphaelites imitate the style that preceded
Raphael and photography is invented.
1870s-1890s.: Artists who
reject academic painting, band together. They create works of
art which depict the effects that light has when it falls on
objects in the great outdoors. Impressionism is born and the
greatest art movement since the Renaissance is in full swing.
1880-1920s.: Art critic
Roger Fry coins the term Post-Impressionism that is used to
describe the work of artists with a freely expressive use of
color and form. Soon after, the Expressionists become interested
in the depiction of emotions and the types of responses those
same emotions evoke. Vibrant colors and a fascination with primitive
art are very important. At the same time, artists known as wild
beasts are part of a movement called Fauvism.
1905-1939.: Pablo Picasso
and Georges Braque come together to create Cubism. Images on
canvas are reduced to cube-like shapes and "flimsy sculpture"
or collages appear.
1916-1922.: A French word
meaning hobbyhorse is the nonsensical name given to a nonsensical
movement called Dada. Everyday objects like urinals, are signed
and called art.
1920s-1940s.: An influential
German school of Design headed up by architect Walter Gropius,
the Bauhaus applies some of the concepts of Cubism to architecture
and art. In North America, an unprecedented outburst of creative
activity among African Americans occurs.
1924-1930s.: Dreamlike states
make way for Surrealism as artists share an upbeat fascination
with the strange. Watches melt, apples replace heads and fun
is had by all.
1940s-1950s.: Beginning
in New York City, Abstract Expressionism marks the end of recognizable
subject matter. Self-discovery and the sense that one can do
or say anything is what life is all about as the artistic center
of the world shifts from Paris to New York. Drip paintings and
canvases covered with just one color are a common sight.
1960s.: Optical illusions
appear in art galleries as Op Art takes a bow. Meanwhile, images
of popular culture show up here, there, and everywhere as Pop
Art turns heads.
1970s.: After all the hoopla,
Minimalism is the way to go. Art is reduced to the simplest
of elements and what you see is what you get.
1980s and Beyond.: Artists
experiment with various concepts including wrapping things up
with fabric, tinkering on computers and dancing their way through
art shows. Shock value becomes more and more important as creative
souls wait to see who will start the next art movement...
2007.:
Artists in Ottawa, Canada and areas west, are introduced to
the Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery, and are invited to display
their artwork on this site. Lets show the world and the movements
what we have to offer...
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| Features On Site |
About Acrylic Painting
About Glass Arts
About Jewelry
About Literature
About Oil Painting
About Photography
About Pottery
About Sculpting
About Watercolour
About Wood Working
About Affiliation
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| Art Museums |
Glenbow Museum Calgary
Beaverbrook NB
London ON Museum
Des Beaux-Arts Montreal
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| Featured Artist |
Horse (cave painting)
c. 15,000-10,000 BC
Lascaux, France |
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| Featured Artist |
King Menkaure and a Queen
Egyptian; Fourth Dynasty, reign of Menkaure
Graywacke with faint remains of paint. |
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| Featured Artist |
Mona Lisah
Leonardo da Vinci
Oil on wood, 1503-1506
Musee du Louvre, France |
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| Featured Artist |
Fourteen Sunflowers in a Vase
Vincent van Gogh
Oil on canvas, 1888
National Gallery, London |
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| Featured Artist |
Houses at L'Estaque
Georges Braque
Oil on canvas, 1908
Kunstmuseum, Bern |
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| Featured Artist |
Frieze (detail)
Jackson Pollock
Oil, enamel and aluminum paint on canvas, 1953-55
Private Collection |
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| Featured Artist |
Last Self-Portrait, 1986
Andy Warhol (American, 1930–1987)
Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas; H. 80, W. 80 in. (203.2 x 203.2 cm)
Of all the Pop artists who emerged in New York and on the international scene in the early 1960s, none is more famous or more typifies the movement than Andy Warhol. Although he had a traditional art education at Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, as a young man in the 1950s he supported himself doing commercial art in New York. About 1959 he decided to concentrate his energies on painting, calling upon both his formal training and commercial experience in his new work. Warhol purposely sought an alternative to the emotionally charged paintings of the Abstract Expressionists by adopting a commercial, hands-off approach to art. His aim was to demystify art by making it look as if anyone could have done it. To this end, he borrowed images from American popular culture and celebrated ordinary consumer goods, such as Brillo pads, Campbell's soup cans, and Coca-Cola bottles, as well as media and political personalities, including Marilyn Monroe and Mao Zedong. He featured them in individually colored serial paintings and prints that relied on commercial silkscreening techniques for reproduction. After the early 1960s his most frequent subjects were the famous people he knew, and occasionally he was his own subject. In this eerie, premonitory self-portrait, produced just a few months before his death in February 1987, Warhol appears as a haunting, disembodied mask. His head floats in a dark black void and his face and hair are ghostly pale, covered in a militaristic camouflage pattern of green, gray, and black. |
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So, what is this all about?
The Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery is a web site on the World Wide Web, which showcases artwork created by visual and performance artists, and writers, who reside in the Ottawa area and the Rideau Valley Area, to the west of the city of Ottawa. This area includes Brockville, Merrickville, Smiths Falls, Carleton Place, Perth, and areas around these towns.
The site presents gallery pages of your artwork. These pages are being published to help you, the artist, in selling your artwork. Other benefits an artist can receive from having a web page are: employers have easy access to this site as a reference tool so we expect that some of you may secure employment if you use this site as part of your job search strategy.
Through the website you could possibly be contacted for commissioned work, as well. The bottom line is that, if used as a promotional tool and portfolio, you the artist have another source of advertising for yourself. The cost to an individual artist is $10.00 per month. To realize two months savings, you can pay $100 per year by paying for a complete year all at once. Group rates will be slightly higher. For this fee the artist or group receives a page on the Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery, which includes:
- The primary goal of the site is to display thumbnail size images which enlarge with a click of the mouse, of artist's artwork (limit of 10 pieces per page).
- For simplicity of understanding, the web site uses predetermined style packages. This is due to the fact that, for speed of loading, a certain amount of content must be textual and pages must be constructed in a uniformly specific manner.
- Text written by the artist is included on their page, edited only for references to contraband and legal issues.
- Your page includes only vital statistics that you choose to reveal, and can include: name, address, phone number, and email address (linked if desired for direct email transmission).
- The site will also feature: a guest book where visitors are invited to make honest observations and give constructive critiques, a bulletin board where member artists can post memos, and a service directory which will list businesses that are meaningful to the arts community such as material suppliers and retail sales outlets for works of art.
- Advertising from potential employers, show sponsors, auction houses, flea markets, schools and instructional courses, government programs, tourism programs etc. can be placed on the bulletin board for nominal fees.
- The site, housing optimally 240 artists, will publish voluntary tour guide hours and maps, to encourage the public to drive to the countryside and visit the artists in their own environments. There are many advantages to an artist, if your potential buyers come to see you and your work in your own work environment. For instance: you can save on gallery fees, less chance of the buyer being unhappy with his purchase, and you can get to know who is interested in your work.
- The site will be affiliated with such organizations as: The National Capital Commission, Tourism Canada, Regional Chambers of Commerce, national and regional public and privately owned galleries, etc.
Webmaster
This e-commerce venture is managed by Eleanor Binder, of Ottawa, Ontario. Eleanor has five years of hands on experience in the field of E-commerce and support services. She has the education, skills and experience to cover all aspects of web page creation, and site maintenance.
Competitive Advantages
We offer voluntary use of programming to prevent theft of artwork from web site, if artist desires that their artwork be protected.
The cost is much less to you, artists, than that of having an entire individual website built.
This site will promote networking between you and the general public, as well as with corporate affiliates such as galleries, retail stores, and tourism development groups.
The site will ensure that this community of artists is up to date on all events that are significant to the arts community: open juried shows, openings, opportunities, sales of work and supplies. This will enable better planning of more events, which the site will be involved in.
Each artist can gain exposure for other artists by sharing their own work.
Site will garner income for a potentially large number of artists in sales of artwork, employment opportunities, exposure of gallery shows for better attendance, portfolio resources.
The tourists who follow the tour into the country will bring income to other businesses such as bed and breakfast houses, restaurants, gasoline outlets, flea markets, auctions, antique distributors, other retail outlets, historical landmarks, camping ventures.
Our Commitment
is to you the artist. We want to meet you, get to know you and work for you. In the next few months we will turning up everywhere:
We'll be doing research of clothesline art fairs, flea markets, exhibitions and art organizations to find you, artists.
We'll be visiting galleries to speak with artists in person.
You will start seeing our advertising flyers and posters in schools, libraries, galleries, artist's co-ops, art supply stores, craft shops, gift shops, local bulletin boards, flea markets, book stores, neighborhood cafes, etc.
We will be E-mailing to you, advertising of an inoffensive nature - no spam.
Advertising will be placed in area newspapers especially the free publications. We will be thrilled when we receive your phone call because you have seen our ad.
We will be asking everyone, do you know of any artists? We want to explain our service to them and we believe that our site is something that everyone will really want and needs.
We might call you out of the blue, because a caring friend of yours has seen our site and wants you to know about it.
We might even find you through contact with the National Capital Commission, Tourism Canada, and local Chambers of Commerce in the region.
Hope to be meeting you soon. Give us a call and let us know who you are. We can get a website page working for you faster, if we don't have to spend a lot of time looking for you. This will be a marketing tool extraordinaire, for You, artists. Please enjoy the site and contact us at For more information on how to subscribe and be the owner of a web page on this site, please contact, Eleanor Binder by email to We will be very pleased to answer any questions and address any concerns. Cheers.
We thank and acknowledge the use of Free JavaScript available at
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Copyright © 2007 Ottawa Valley Artists Online Gallery.
All rights reserved.
Revised: June 28, 2007
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