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Visual Arts Resources - Library and Computing Page


VisualArts

Databases and Gateways | E-Journals | Web Pages
Associations & Organisations | Guides & Tools | Galleries and Museums
Stand in the Room | Subject Strands | Librarian


Welcome to the resources pages for the School of Creative Arts. This page looks at resources relevant to the Visual Arts (VA) and Graphic Arts (GA) subjects, and pages that may be relevant across the different subject strands.

The SoCA Highlights Blog is a great way to find new resources, or explore some of the older ones. It looks at interesting resources right across the Creative Arts disciplines, covering Visual Arts, Music, Photography, Digital Media and Theatre... among other things. Make sure you visit it every week or so to see what's out there in the big wild world of web. Highlights Blog



Special Feature!

- JCU currently has a Virtual Book Display featuring selected books from our Graphic Design collection! You can follow a series of hyperlink trails, or click through the display as a regular slide show. Check it out!

Databases and Gateways

  • General Information
    • If you are off campus login via Remote access
  • Australian Public Affairs Indexing Service (APAIS) - a broad multidisciplinary resource focusing on Australia. It provides full text of articles where available. Available via Informit.
  • Expanded Academic ASAP - indexes articles of general academic interest. Links to the full text of many journal articles. Available via InfoTrac.
  • Project Muse (Arts and Humanities) - Full text coverage of hundreds of journals.
  • Arts and Humanities Citation Index Available through Web of Science
  • AustArt - the Australian art journals index is produced by the library at the University of New South Wales College of Fine Arts. The index provides access to articles and reviews on Australian art and artists which are published in journals that are currently held by the College of Fine Arts Library, or have been held by the library in the past. A very small database with limited results.
  • Informit Online - Includes Australian databases such as APAIS, MEDIASCAN
  • ProQuest 5000 - ProQuest indexes a wide range of journals in the sciences and humanities and includes the full text of many articles.
  • Xrefer - This online, full text, reference library includes encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri and books of quotations, as well as subject specific titles from art, to literature, to law.
  • Web of Science- Includes Arts and Humanities Citation Index. One of the better databases for Arts subjects offered by JCU at present


  • Grove Art Online - The Grove Dictionary of Art covers all aspects of the visual arts - architecture, decorative arts and photography - from prehistory to the present day. The online edition of this standard reference work includes updates and links to other internet resources including images of art works held in public museum collections throughout the world. More a current awareness service than a database.


  • Intute: Arts and Humanities - Gateway providing free online access to a variety of web pages for education and research. Over 115,000 high quality educational web resources selected and annotated by subject specialists at several UK universities.
  • Adam - A gateway to art, design, architecture and media information. Soon to be superceded.
  • BUBL Link - Catalogue of Internet Resources. Browsable by Dewey Decimal numbers.
  • CAN, Collections Australia Network - Formerly Australian Museums and Galleries Online. Intended to be a gateway linking collections across Australia, including the small to medium regional institutions
  • ANU's ArtServe - Images of art and architecture mainly from the Mediterranean, Japan and India. Downloading may require payment.
  • Voice of the Shuttle Art and Art History Homepage - A gateway to a very long list of resources. Worth a look.
  • Internet ArtResources - Extensive site which has received good reviews
  • Mother of all Art and Art History Links Pages - Very good gateway from the University of Michigan.
  • archINFORM - International Architecture Database


  • Ask Search Engine - An alternative to Google and Yahoo. Uses a different search algorithm
  • Vivisimo Search Engine - An alternative to Google and Yahoo. Uses a different search algorithm


E-Journals (JCU Subscriptions)

    A selection of media, culture and creative arts journals available online (Some are browsable online, others require access via JCU s E-Journal's page. For paper holdings and other other sources, check Tropicat.)

  • The Broadsheet - A free magazine dedicated to visual arts and culture. A publication of the Contemporary Arts Center of South Australia.
  • RealTime +onscreen - "RealTime is Australia's critical guide to international contemporary arts. Our focus is on innovation in performance (live art, experimental theatre, dance, music, sound), photomedia, film, video, interactive media and hybrid arts."
  • M/C Journal - A journal of media and culture.
  • Continuum Journal of media and cultural studies affiliated with the Cultural Studies Association of Australia.
  • Cultural Critique - "A forum for international and interdisciplinary explorations of intellectual controversies, trends, and issues in culture, theory, and politics".
  • International Journal of Arts Management - Available through e-journals.
  • Art & Australia Magazine - Magazine/e-journal. Some free access
  • Art Almanac - "A monthly magazine listing art galleries, museums, dealers, artists, exhibitions, prizes and visual arts events Australia-wide"
  • Image & Narrative - Online magazine of the visual narrative
  • Australian CREATIVE - Magazine for design, advertising and photography


Web Pages

  • Walter S. Arnold - Sculptor/stone carver. Includes a resources page for stone carving.
  • Brick Artist - Nathan Sawaya's website, showcasing his work with lego blocks
  • Sight (Vision) - An examination of optical illusions, from the University of Washington. A great teaching resource for primary school science, as well.
  • Australian Women's Art Register - This site contains archives, catalogues, information kits for artists and teachers; information about what's on in women's art around Australia; artist of the month biography and pictures.
  • Digital Archive of Art - Collection of images of paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries and sculpture from the ancient Greek period, the Renaissance, and the 19th and 20th centuries.
  • National Library of Australia Pictures Catalogue - The Pictures Catalogue contains bibliographic records for 45,000 paintings and 550,000 photographs dating from the late eighteenth century to the present. Includes 30,000 digitized images of oil paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries, selected watercolors, and photographs.
  • Picture Australia - Picture Australia provides access to the online pictorial collections of the participating museums, galleries, libraries, archives and other repositories. The images, in a range of formats including paintings, drawings, photographs, sculpture, cover all aspects of Australian life. High resolution copies of the pictures may be ordered.
  • AHDS Visual Arts - UK project devoted to making digital resources for the visual arts community available online, particularly resources for study and teaching in higher education.
  • National Association for the Visual Arts Ltd - A gateway to Australian visual arts and craft.
  • Web Gallery of Art - A virtual museum and searchable database of European painting and sculpture of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods (1100-1850), currently containing over 13,900 reproductions.
  • AIGA Design Archives - "Annual juried selections of excellence and the work of designers honoured by AIGA"


Associations & Organisations 

  • Access Arts - A Queensland based non-profit community professional arts organisation which assists people experiencing disability and disadvantage to pursue their ambitions in the arts.
  • Australian Graphic Design - The national association for professional graphic designers.
  • ANAT (Australian Network for Art and Technology) - Australia's peak network and advocacy body for artists working with science and technology. ANAT supports emerging and established artists in the fields of new media arts, internet, video, sound and performance.
  • Arts Nexus - A non profit, member-based regional arts development and cultural industry association providing services for the arts, entertainment and cultural sector in Far North Queensland. Based in Cairns.
  • Arts Queensland
  • Queensland Arts Council
  • Australia Council for the Arts
  • Artworkers Alliance - Established in 1986 to address the professional and financial concerns of visual artists, Artworkers Alliance offers a range of services to facilitate professional development and employment opportunities for artists and art workers. Based in Brisbane.
  • Flying Arts - Through online courses, touring workshops and youth activities Flying Arts provides artists in regional and remote locations with the opportunity to experience contemporary professional practice.
  • Illustrators Australia
  • KickArts Contemporary Arts - Based in Cairns.
  • AIGA - An American professional organisation for design (formerly the American Institute of Graphic Arts)


Guides & Tools


Galleries and Museums


Stand in the Room

    Where to find physical resources in the JCU Library

  • Useful Dewey Decimal numbers for Visual Arts Resources


Subject Strands

    These pages are under construction. Please go back to the Subject Resources List to navigate to the current, active pages.

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Your School Librarian

    The Liaison Librarian for the School of Creative Arts is Sharon Bryan. Feel free to contact her for any information needs, including help with research, referencing and general inquiries.



Comments? Suggestions? If you know of any resources which should be on this page (or shouldn't), please contact Sharon Bryan.

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If this information is inadequate, incorrect, or can be improved in any way, please let us know