All Guides: Studio Art: Getting Started

Best Bets

Needing artistic inspiration? Wanting to know more about a particular style? Get started here.

Artstor This link opens in a new window
Note: All Artstor content is migrating to JSTOR, and the Artstor platform will be retired on August 1, 2024. You can check out the new search interface now at Artstor on JSTOR. More information can be found at Welcome to JSTOR from Artstor.

Library of high quality digital images of artistic photographs and artwork from museums and collections worldwide.
Digital Public Library of America This link opens in a new window
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DPLA materials come from America’s libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. All of these are freely available and include; photographs, books, maps, news footage, oral histories, personal letters, museum objects, artwork, government documents, etc.
Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new window
Great for learning about artistic styles, from Chinese calligraphy to Byzantine mosaics. Provides access to the entire text of "The Dictionary of Art." Offers ongoing additions of new and updated articles, over 3,000 thumbnail art images and line drawings displayed in the text of articles, and extensive image links.
Macalester Art History Digital Collection This link opens in a new window
Database of high quality digital images collected and maintained by the Art Department at Macalester.

New Art Books

Chicano and Chicana art : a critical anthology

Soviet critical design : Senezh Studio and the Communist surround

Liberating Hollywood : women directors and the feminist reform of 1970s American cinema

Objects of desire : Surrealism and design 1924-today

The Hollywood Jim Crow : the racial politics of the movie industry

Animated personalities : cartoon characters and stardom in American theatrical shorts

Abstract expressionism

3D printing design : additive manufacturing and the materials revolution

The women of Atelier 17 : modernist printmaking in midcentury New York

Ways of drawing. Artists' perspectives and practices

What is Japanese cinema? : a history

It began with a page : how Gyo Fujikawa drew the way

Vitamin D2: New Perspectives in Drawinf

Essential Techniques of Landscape Drawing: Master the Concepts and Methods for Observing and Rendering Nature

The Complete Guide to Perspective Drawing: From One-Point to Six-Point

Featured Journals

New American Paintings To date, New American Paintings has featured the work of more than three thousand painters from throughout the United States, many of whom have gone on to receive international attention. The publication benefits artists and viewers alike.
Ceramics Monthly
ArtNews ARTnews is an American visual-arts magazine, based in New York City. It covers art from ancient to contemporary times. It includes news dispatches from correspondents, investigative reports, reviews of exhibitions, and profiles of artists and collectors.

What's going on locally?

StarTribune Stage & Arts
What's going on in the Twin Cities? Check out the StarTribune Stage & Arts news to find exhibit openings and more.

Saint Paul Public Library

St. Paul Public Library has more than 42,000 ebooks and 300 audiobooks that you can check out online, including an extensive fiction collection.

As a Macalester College student, you can use the college's address to sign up for an E-card to allow you to use online resources from the St. Paul Public Library at https://sppl.org/ecard. Once you've registered, you can borrow and download ebooks and audiobooks to view on an e-reader, computer, or mobile device.

Studio Art

Research & Instruction Librarian

Citing Sources

Library Resources