As a consultant, I work with museums, non-profits, and small businesses to organize content and its presentation on the web.
Since 1999, I have worked with the Whitney Museum of American Art on in-gallery interpretive materials and family guides as well as web-based educational sites and permanent collection online. I have worked with El Museo del Barrio since 2008 to augment the interpretive content around its Permanent Collection Online. A Phase 2 version is in progress which will bring in-depth texts about the works of art to a world-wide public.
The following websites offer examples of my design and construction work:
In most cases, selecting a link will open a separate window.
A design "sketch" for a therapist, this page shows how my process of website design and development begins. The therapist and I will work together to improve or redo the design so that it fits her practice and clientele.
This website showcases the voice work of Marcella Calabi. She requested something rich, lush, luxurious, yet succinct and clear, like her voice. The background pattern came from an Italian scarf she had owned for many years. Nesting pre-existing YouTube clips made for a quick and cost-effective way to include sound and video of her in performance.
When it launches, this project, intiated by Art Beyond Sight (see below), will function as something of a travelogue for low-vision and blind people wishing to learn about the architecture of New York City. Users will be able to listen to audio clips of prominent New Yorkers reading visual descriptions of city landmarks of their choice. The site is also part of ABS's greater goal to raise awareness for the needs of blind people to have access to visual culture. ABS intends to launch the site in connection with their Awareness Month, October 2007. For now, I have the initial design sketch available for viewing.
This site introduces the Muscota New School to prospective parents and provides a communications hub for parents of currently-enrolled children. I designed and built it for the Parents' Association in collaboration with the PA web committee.
This revamp of an earlier site (see below) expands offerings and greatly increases interactivity. With the help of the web development company Interactive Knowledge, out of North Carolina, and with substantial grants from the NEA and IMLS, the project launched in the fall of 2006. I was responsible for site concept, project management, and overall site look and feel, consisting of four designs: the home page, and one for each of our target audiences of teachers, kids, and teens.
Art Education for the Blind's Art Beyond Sight
Art Beyond Sight will provide museums, schools, libraries, and recreation centers with a wide array of materials to teach art, art history, and visual culture to the visually impaired. I was brought on to help define the site architecture and to create several designs for this comprehensive resource. The main home page design used a logo and color scheme from a book the organization had produced. Among the goals for the site is to alleviate the need to mail bulky materials to museums around the world. A primary concern was to make the site comply with ADA guidelines and be accessible to those using screen readers to view it.
Home pages for several sections are currently online at www.artbeyondsight.org. The plan is for the site to grow as funding is received. Individual, yet related, design variations announce special sections such as a slide show about vision impairments experienced by several renouned artists, Art History Through Touch and Sound Online, and the Handbook for Museums and Educators. AEB's latest project, New York Beyond Sight (see above), will invite blind and low-vision fans of New York City to hear visual descriptions of some of the city's architectural landmarks.
Learning@Whitney
Learning@Whitney serves as the Whitney Museum of American Art's online resource for educators of elementary through high school students. I designed and built the site in collaboration with Dina Helal, head of distance learning in the Whitney's Education department.
From 1999 to 2006, I managed several web projects for the Whitney Museum of American Art, including the online audioguide, American Voices, the Jacob Lawrence Exhibition website (see below), the website for the museum's youth internship program, Youth2Youth.com (see below), and the now-closed site for the exhibition, The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-2000.
Clarityworks
Clarityworks offers its clients help with decision making, negotiations, and conflict resolution. Clarityworks wanted the website to use the same colors scheme and graphic elements as a previously produced bnrochure. The original home page design went through a dozen interations; the client then mulled over them for a few months and eventually chose number 8. From there the interior page design and building went very quickly. See the final product at www.clarityworks.net.
Ryszard
Wasko
The site for Ryszard Wasko, a Polish artist, provides a thorough compilation of his work and career. I used a building process that better accommodates ADA standards, for those who use screen reader technology to view websites.
PS144Q-QMA partnership website spotlights the teaching collaboration between the Queens Museum of Art and PS144Q, a public elementary school in Queens, New York. The Museum and School wanted also to offer a model that other schools and museums around the country could emulate. I designed and built the site using content provided by both QMA education staff and PS144Q teachers.
Visit it at http://www.queensmuseum.org/education/ps144
Kendon Antiques' website design picks up on the distinctive stained glass decorative motifs in the storefront window. Kendon's owners wanted a site where clients can browse merchandise quickly and easily, and then contact them to begin discussions about the pieces that catch their eye. Kendon is located in Hudson, New York, a destination renowned for its fine antique stores.
Visit the site at http://www.kendonantiques.com
The design and site architecture for the Social Skills Training Project is intended to reduce adminstrative work and time spent answering routine questions. The Social Skills Training Project is among the metro area's top institutions specializing in children and adults with social communication disorders, such as Aspergers Syndrome and ADHD.
The site can be found at http://www.socialskillstrainingproject.com
Om Shakti Yoga
I worked with yoga instructor Cathleen Lewis to design and build OmShaktiYoga.com. It introduces visitors to Lewis' yoga teaching practice as well as to the philosophies and positions or asanas of yoga. All the major asanas are pictured and described.
The site is no longer operational.
Jacob Lawrence: Exploring Stories
Produced for the Whitney Museum of American Art, this site provides K-12 educators and students with guided web research around the issues raised in 12 of Jacob Lawrence's paintings. I worked as a consultant for the Whitney Museum in collaboration with Funny Garbage on all aspects of the site.
Visit the site at http://whitney.org/jacoblawrence
The Whitney Museum's Youth Insights program is spotlighted in this site. Besides applications and information about the program and its participants, the site gives overviews and some video clips of teen-run interviews with artists. I provide ongoing maintenance and expansion and I work with members of Youth Insights to find ways to improve the site.
It is at http://www.youth2youth.org