Ways to Celebrate World Art Day from Home

Promoting healthy aging through the arts and creative expression is an important aspect of our work at Iona. During this pandemic—as we all experience heightened emotions, stress, or anxiety—we know that turning to art can be a wonderful tool to inspire, motivate, and uplift spirits.

In celebration of World Art Day on April 15, we’re sharing online art and art-related attractions that you can engage from your home. Whether it’s taking a museum tour online, attending a virtual play or concert, or doodling at lunch, we hope you will take time and enjoy the pleasures of art. Take a look at the following online art attractions and activities.

Virtual Tours:

• Visit artsy.net to browse artworks within different art genres. And in case you’re looking to add some art to your home, you can purchase art here too.
• Powered by Google Street View technology, tour these top museums with Top10.com. Read brief descriptions for each museum to get an idea of what you can expect to see as you browse the free virtual tours offered and follow the link to start your tour.

Art-Making You Can Do at Home:

• Grab some paper and pencils, pens, or crayons and join LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems. Mo invites YOU into his studio every day, virtually, to draw, doodle and explore new ways of writing. New episodes are posted each weekday at 1:00 p.m. ET and then remain online to be streamed afterwards.
• Join Around Town DC for an online beginner drawing course via Zoom. In this series, you’ll learn how to draw using proper techniques, and discover how to represent what you see through studies in contour drawing, perspective, positive/negative space, and value. Please note that in this series, once you register for the class you will receive an invitation for the rest of the series each week. Register here. If you have not used Zoom, please read: Preparing for Your Zoom Meeting.
• Take a free mini art lesson with Art in Action. This free mini lesson series is open to all ages, and has a list of options for you to choose from, like presidential portraits or designing your own dinosaur. You can even access archived mini lessons from previous months if you do not see a current lesson that interests you.

Concerts and Shows:

• Check out these Broadway plays and musicals that you can watch on stage from home with PLAYBILL.com.
• Explore and attend more online concerts and tours with CNN including engaging opportunities with fashion, music, and other art forms.

Of course there are many more ways to celebrate World Art Day. Let us know how you’re celebrating or share other ideas with the community in the comments below.

Happy World Art Day!