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A-Z Databases Digital Repository
Acknowledgement of Problematic Subject Headings
Red Deer Polytechnic Library recognizes that our catalogue and resource descriptions contain language that reflects the biases, norms, and perspectives of the time in which they were created. In particular, for resources about persons and groups, this language is often outdated and harmful. These descriptions also incorporate controlled vocabularies, such as the Library of Congress Subject Headings, which include some headings (e.g., Indians of North America), that are offensive or inappropriate. We use international standards for description, but support and actively participate in efforts to update and change these practices as we strive for descriptions that are inclusive, respectful, and do not cause harm. We acknowledge the critical importance of community consultation in these efforts, and as residents on Treaty 7 and Treaty 6 territories and Métis Region 3 we commit to working together with our local communities to make these changes.
- Interlibrary Loan RequestsRequest articles, books, and multimedia items not held at RDP Library or at a NEOS Library. Use your RDP email and password to login.
- Red Deer Public LibraryStudents, use your iCard at Red Deer Public Library (RDPL).
Red Deer Polytechnic Library is excited to announce that, on May 1, 2025, there will be a new way for students, faculty, and staff to search for and find library resources.
Key Visual Art Resources
Cheat Sheets
- Research Strategies for the Arts at RDPThis document outlines tools, tips and tricks for conducting more effective research here at RDP. It outlines boolean operators, phrase searching, and even more advanced tools like an "auto-complete" function that will allow you to search multiple iterations of a word at a time!
- Finding Images in Artstor Cheat SheetA simple handout outlining how to find images in Artstor. It also highlights some of the neat functionality of the database including the compare function, and the zoom in/out feature!
Databases
- Artstor This link opens in a new window
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This cross-disciplinary collection of rights-cleared images includes digital images of art, architecture, and design from books, museums, archives, and slide collections.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
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Access 9,795 full-text journals and magazines in every academic discipline.
- Red Deer Polytechnic Permanent Art Collection This link opens in a new window
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The RDP Visual Art Department has a collection of over 800 art objects, recognized as one of the strongest college art collections in western Canada.
- Credo Reference: Art & Art History
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A selection of e-books and encyclopedias on Art & Art History. - Oxford Art Online
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"Offers access to the most authoritative, inclusive, and easily searchable online art resources available today."
- JSTOR This link opens in a new window
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A digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources.
- Project MUSE This link opens in a new window
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This database contains full-text scholarly journals and Open Access academic books in the areas of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
- History Subject GuideTo explore the historical context of art, see also the History Subject Guide.
Websites
- ArtxHistoryAn inclusive framework for an open, equitable art history, ArtxHistory is facilitated by institutions, historians, curators, artists, faculty and students who are committed to deliver quality scholarship that is accessible, inclusive and open.
- Arthenon: The Secrets of Vincent van Gogh DiscoveredDr. Wouter van der Veen is a specialist into the life and work of artist Vincent van Gogh. In 2020, Dr. van der Veen identified the location where Van Gogh painted his final masterpiece, Tree Roots, by examining a postcard from around the year 1910. Dr. van der Veen's website includes free eBooks (including his work on Van Gogh's final painting) as well as other articles he has written about the artist.
- Duke Digital CollectionsDigitized historic photographs, advertisements, texts and more from Duke's unique library collections.
- Europeana CollectionBrowse over 50 million digitized items relevant to cultural heritage including artworks, books, music, and videos on art, newspapers, archaeology, fashion, science, sport and much more.
- Getty Research PortalThe Getty Research Portal™ is a free online search platform providing worldwide access to an extensive collection of digitized art history texts from a range of institutions. This multilingual and multicultural union catalog affords art historians and other researchers the ability to search and download complete digital copies of publications devoted to art, architecture, material culture, and related fields. Collections include the Alchemy Collection; Anatomy and Art; Art of the Ancient Americas: Historiography, Provenance and Collections; Botany Collection; Cicognara Collection; Cookbook Collection; Letters and Words; Photography Incunabula Collection; and Reinventing the Americas.
- Google ScholarGoogle Scholar searches for academic literature, and is especially useful for tracking down articles from citations. On-campus, articles available through RDP Library will show a Request this item @ RDP link. Off-campus, set this functionality by going to Scholar's Settings --> Library Links and searching for Red Deer Polytechnic.
- SmarthistorySmarthistory is committed to rewriting the colonial legacies of art history and contains articles and expertise from hundreds of leading art history scholars. All of the resources on the website are published under a Creative Commons non-commercial license and are available ad-free to anyone with an internet connection. Smarthistory is public art history.
- Smithsonian Digital CollectionsIncludes digitized books, manuscripts, photo collections, ephemera and seed catalogues as well as lists of partially digitized bibliographies and indexes (artists' books, artist files), photo, and ephemera collections.
- Vincent van Gogh: The LettersAn online, open access archive of van Gogh's correspondence. Search by keywords or browse the collection by period, correspondent, or place. Scanned images of the letters and accompanying sketches are available to browse and study.
Drawing EssentialsCall Number: NC 735 R624 2017 (Main collection, second floor)"Thoroughly addresses the most significant foundational drawing techniques: basic drawing, figure drawing, and perspective drawing."
Basic Perspective DrawingCall Number: NC 750 M648 2013 (Main collection, second floor)"The basic principles and techniques of perspective drawing."
Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio PracticeCall Number: NC 730 A68 2006 (Main collection, second floor)The author "uses the works of works of Old Masters and today's most respected realist artists to demonstrate and teach the principles of realist drawing."
Portrait Drawing: The Quick Guide to Mastering Technique and StyleCall Number: e-book (2018)"This lively, graphic approach to explaining concepts will have you looking and learning with step by step illustrations and expert tips."
Performance Drawing: New Practices Since 1945Call Number: e-book (2020)"What is 'performance drawing'? When does a drawing turn into a performance? Is the act of drawing in itself a performative process, whether a viewer is present or not? Through conversation, interviews and essays, the authors illuminate these questions."
Vitamin D: New Perspectives in DrawingCall Number: NC 95 V583 2005 (Main collection, second floor)"Presents, in A to Z order, the work of 109 artists who have emerged internationally since 1990 using the medium of drawing."
Figure Drawing: The Structure, Anatomy, and Expressive Design of Human Form by ISBN: 9780136031918Publication Date: 2010-02-02Appropriate for all beginning and intermediate courses in Art, Basic Drawing, Figure Drawing, or Life Drawing. Providing a concise but comprehensive survey of all matters pertaining to drawing the human figure, this well-illustrated and accurate guide demonstrates the interplay of structure, anatomy, design, and expression in sound figure drawing. This text shows how the integration of these four factors is essential in drawing the figure in a compelling and lucid manner.
Vitamin P2: New Perspectives in PaintingCall Number: ND 195 V584 2011 (Main collection, second floor)"An up-to-the-minute survey of contemporary painting featuring 115 artists from around the world."
Oil: Creative TechniquesCall Number: ND 1500 A8813 2008 (Main collection, second floor)"Presents 14 distinctive, strikingly different approaches to oil painting."
Oil Painting Essentials: Mastering Portraits, Figures, Still Lifes, Landscapes, and Interiors (Main collection, second floor)Call Number: ND 1500 K739 2016 (Main collection, second floor)"Comprehensive breakdown of oil painting provides all of the tools and encouragement painters need."
Color Mixing for Artists: Minimum Colors for Maximum Effect, Using Watercolors, Acrylics, and OilsCall Number: ND 1488 C656 2002 (Main collection, second floor)"Learn how to choose and mix colors to produce the maximum color range from the minimum number of paints."
1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic and WatercolorCall Number: ND 1488 P69 2012 (Main collection, second floor)"The definitive color-mixing resource for oil, acrylic, and watercolor artists. This user-friendly spiral-bound book is tabbed for quick and easy reference."
The Spirit of the Brush: Chinese Brush Painting TechniquesCall Number: e-book (2017)"Chinese ink painting is one of the oldest continually practiced art forms in the world . . . ink painting is credited with influencing the development of Western modern art. Its minimalist approach to painting continues to have enormous appeal.
! TIP: Try searching for "pottery craft" or "ceramic sculpture" instead of just ceramics. Ceramics has a lot of industrial/non-art applications!
- Ceramics Monthly (magazine online and in print)Call Number: TP 785 C44 (Main collection, second floor)
"The world's largest, most comprehensive ceramic art magazine."
Global Clay: Themes in World Ceramic TraditionsCall Number: NK 3785 B87 2017 (Main collection, second floor)"Explores the recurring artistic themes that tie humanity together, explaining how and why those themes appear again and again in worldwide ceramic traditions."
Contemporary CeramicsCall Number: NK 3930 P484 2000 (Main collection, second floor)"Organized by the distinctive categories of functional ceramics, figurative pieces, and installation works."
Pit Firing Ceramics: Modern Methods, Ancient TraditionsCall Number: TP 814 W48 2013 (Main collection, second floor)Explores "the complex nature of pit firing based on historical evidence and the artistic perspectives of contemporary ceramicists."
Naked Clay: Ceramics Without GlazeCall Number: NK 4265 P477 2004 (Main collection, second floor)"A practical manual of alternative methods for finishing unglazed ceramics."
Functional PotteryCall Number: TT 920 H665 2000 (Main collection, second floor)"Covering historical as well as contemporary pottery."
The Figure in ClayCall Number: NK 4235 F548 2005 (Main collection, second floor)"Nine master ceramic artists present their personal approaches to sculpting the human figure."
Sculpture TodayCall Number: NB 198 C65 2007 (Main collection, second floor)"A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated overview of contemporary sculpture."
Elemental Sculpture: Theory and PracticeCall Number: e-book"Presents in-depth research of contemporary sculpture, the roots of Elemental Sculpture and its development."
Sculpture TechniquesCall Number: NK 3940 S394 2016 (Main collection, second floor)"Discover a world of fresh ideas from more than thirty artists as they share their unique methods and inspired designs."
Greek SculptureCall Number: NB 90 F85 2016 (Main collection, second floor)Publication Date: 2016-05-02"A chronological overview of the plastic and glyptic art forms in the ancient Greek world from the emergence of life-sized marble statuary at the end of the seventh century BC to the appropriation of Greek sculptural traditions by Rome in the first two centuries AD."
Indigenous Resources
- Indigenous Resources GuideThis guide will help you find information relevant to Indigenous topics in Treaty 6, Treaty 7, and Métis ancestral lands.
Find Streaming Videos
- Academic Video Online
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This video collection of documentaries, films, demonstrations and more, spans subject areas like anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, etc.
- Criterion-On-Demand This link opens in a new window
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Access to educationally relevant feature films, including classics, documentaries, animated titles, independent films, and foreign films.
- Curio This link opens in a new window
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This streaming video collection features programs and teacher resource guides supporting K-12 and post-secondary courses. Includes News in Review, a current-events series. Contains English and French primary sources.
- Films on Demand This link opens in a new window
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Instructional and educational streaming videos in a wide range of subject areas. Includes performance rights for classroom use.
- Kanopy This link opens in a new window
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A film collection which includes documentaries, indie and foreign films, classics, and blockbuster movies. A small selection has been purchased for use by RDP students, faculty, and staff. Faculty can request films by contacting their Subject Librarian.
- National Film Board of Canada This link opens in a new window
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This collection includes documentaries, animations, experimental films, and alternative dramas. Public performance rights for classroom use included.
- Videatives Streaming Service This link opens in a new window
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This streaming video collection includes text and video clips demonstrating children in action by capturing the details of what children know and how teachers can build from children's knowledge.
- A-Z List of Streaming Video CollectionsAccess to all RDP Library Streaming Video Collections (including Curio.ca, Films on Demand, NFB, Kanopy, Videatives)
Find Databases & Journals by Title
- A-Z List of DatabasesA complete listing of databases, electronic resources, and streaming video collections licensed for use by Red Deer Polytechnic students, faculty, and staff.
- Find a Journal by TitleFind out if the Library has access to a specific journal.
Interlibrary Loans & Other Libraries
RDP Library can bring in items from libraries across North America for you.
- Interlibrary Loan RequestsRequest articles, books, and multimedia items not held at RDP Library or at a NEOS Library. Use your RDP email and password to login.
- Red Deer Public LibraryStudents, use your iCard at Red Deer Public Library (RDPL).
Use your RDP Email and Password
to request items through Interlibrary Loan
Off-Campus Access
Use your RDP email and password to access databases and e-resources off-campus. Learn about your RDP email and password.
Note that your RDP email requires multi-factor authentication (MFA). Learn about MFA.
