VMFA introduces Wild@Art a new app for smartphones highlighting more than 30 works of art from the museum’s collection, including select pieces from the current exhibition Domestic, Wild, Divine: Artists look at Animals.
The app is free and available for download from iTunes and Android Marketplace.
“Our goal is to introduce this beloved collection of European and American paintings and sculptures to audiences by offering engaging and unexpected approaches to learning about animals and art,” said Celeste Fetta, VMFA Adult Programs Manager. “Wild@Art provides new ways to explore old favorites and discover new finds using a variety of media.”
The app will include facts about the artists as well as the science, history, literary, and popular cultural references related to the art. Other features include:
- Navigation paths for general audience and one for families with works of art, multimedia content and conversation starters selected and crafted specifically for children, ages 5-12
- More than 50 HD images of paintings, sculpture, drawings, and prints with zooming capability
- Audio for selected works including excerpts from related literature, animal sounds, and original songs by Kid Pan Alley
WILD@Art will act as a visual and educational gateway into the collection for adults and families and is enabled by Toura, the same platform used by the Art Institute of Chicago, The Getty LA, LACMA, and the Warhol Museum. The app can be used onsite or anywhere in the world. Toura is IOS and Android Platform compatible; however wi-fi and cellular networks are required onsite because of streaming video.
Visitors are invited to experience Wild@Art in action on April 25th during two tutorial sessions by museum staff at 11 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. in the Mellon Galleries.
About the Mellon Collection
Paul Mellon was the longest tenured trustee in VMFA’s history. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon have given VMFA more than 2,000 works. During his lifetime, Paul Mellon (1907–1999) amassed the most important collection of British art outside of England. Together with his wife, Rachel “Bunny” Lambert Mellon, he also acquired a collection of French painting that comprises masterpieces of every period from Romanticism to Cubism, focusing mainly on the Impressionists and their precursors. Although he is perhaps best known as a collector of British and French art, he also formed an important collection of American painting, which is now divided between the National Gallery of Art and VMFA. Mr. and Mrs. Mellon gave a large part of their collection to VMFA during his lifetime, and he subsequently bequeathed many more works of art. Mr. Mellon himself supervised the details of the original installation – and the VMFA wing that displays his collections – which he also gave in 1985 in partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia and Sydney and Frances Lewis.
About the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
VMFA’s permanent collection encompasses more than 33,000 works of art spanning 5,000 years of world history. Its collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, English silver, Fabergé, and the art of South Asia are among the finest in the nation. With acclaimed holdings in American, British Sporting, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist, and Modern and Contemporary art – and additional strengths in African, Ancient, East Asian, and European – VMFA ranks as one of the top comprehensive art museums in the United States. Programs include educational activities and studio classes for all ages, plus lively after-hours events. VMFA’s Statewide Partnership program includes traveling exhibitions, artist and teacher workshops, and lectures across the Commonwealth. VMFA is open 365 days a year and general admission is always free. For additional information, telephone 804-340-1400 or visit www.vmfa.museum.
