My New Best Friends: An App is Born

I want you to meet a few of my new best friends. I have immersed myself in my first iOS app project which just yesterday became available in the App Store. I have been creating educational media project for kids for many years, but app production is new for me. I had some fits and starts before I found the right production environment for me, Demibooks Composer Studio.

The App

Duck Takes A Ride: An Art Story is a narrative about 8 ancient animals from China and Egypt. I found the images first and the story evolved. I mean really, when you have a gorgeous horse and a cart, something special has to happen.

 

Artist: China, Sichuan province
 1st century/2nd century CE
China: Eastern Han period (25–220 CE)
Portland Art Museum

Why Chinese Bronzes?

I wish I could remember when I fell in love with ancient Chinese bronze sculpture. It's was a long time ago. Thirty years ago I made a ceramic copy of a ding, a ceremonial vessel. Not exactly like the one below, but similar.

Brooklyn Museum   Ding   Cast bronze with inlay China  12th-11th century B.C.E.

I'm not even sure if at the time I really understood what it was. I just knew there was something about the object that captivated me.  As I learned more about ancient Chinese art I discovered a cache of animal bronzes that I knew kids would love.

From the Freer Museum in Washington, DC.

Where are the objects?

I started collecting images of ancient animals from a various museums that allow certain images in their collections available for use in media projects. Some images were put in the public domain while other institutions indicate there are no known copyright restrictions. The Brooklyn Museum, the Portland Art Museum and LACMA collections played a pivitol role in this project.

It was searching the archives of the Brooklyn Museum that I realized I wanted to include animals from ancient Egypt with the Chinese bronzes. What's not to love about this adorable hedgehog?

What Other Animals?

A bixie is an mythical Chinese lion-like animal also known as a chimera. She has wings and apparently was brightly painted at one time. I love her expression and the idea of including a fantasy animal in the menagerie.

This faience monkey "lives" at the Brooklyn Museum. She can do amazing things with her tail, which is almost hidden in the sculpture.

 Stay Tuned to Meet the Rest of the Gang.

Download this app the let me know what you think. Share it with the children in your world.