'Doodle For Google' Finalists At Philly Art Museum

This summer, ten Pennsylvania State Finalists in the 2012 Doodle 4 Google contest will have their doodles exhibited in the Museum, in the Education Corridor, along with three different interactive stations for visitors of all ages. For the competition, students in grades K–12 were invited to design Google Doodles inspired by the theme “If I could travel in time, I’d visit…”
The Pennsylvania finalists (consisting of one winner and nine honorable mentions) chose time periods ranging from The Big Bang to the Victorian Era. The state winning doodle “Traveling to Me,” depicts a girl diving into a time wormhole interlaced through a brightly colored Google logo. As a gift, the Museum is providing all finalists and their families with guest passes to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On August 5, the first (Pay What You Wish) Sunday of the month, a Museum educator will be on hand to talk with guests about the installation.
“The Philadelphia Museum of Art is delighted to partner in this year’s Doodle 4 Google competition,” said Marla Shoemaker, The Kathleen C. Sherrerd Senior Curator of Education. “This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase state-wide talent as well as the treasures in the Museum’s permanent collection and to invite visitors to make art of their own.”
The Doodle 4 Google display at the Museum will consist of three stations: the Time Travel Station, Google Art Project Station, and the Calligraphy Station. The Time Travel Station will expand on the contest theme, including twelve reproductions of objects chosen from among the diversity of work in the permanent collection, which contains art from six continents and over 4,000 years of human history. The station will include drawing materials and colored pencils, which visitors may take up into the galleries to do their own time travelling doodles.
The Google Art Project Station will contain information about the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s collaboration with the Google Art Project, which showcases high-resolution images online in an effort to make art increasingly accessible to anyone with an internet connection. From armor to painting to decorative arts, more than 200 objects were carefully chosen from the Museum’s rich collections for the Google Art Project, which now counts 151 partners in 40 countries.
This station will also contain reproductions of three of the works of art chosen for the Project and Chromebooks to allow visitors to explore the Project online themselves. Finally, the Calligraphy Station has a “Travel to Asia” theme, with five reproductions of calligraphy scrolls, and ipads with calligraphy apps as well as rice paper and brush pens for visitors to practice this ancient art.
The Pennsylvania Doodle 4 Google finalists are as follows:
Benjamin S., Macungie PA
Amanda B., Elysburg PA
Quarrie Louis M., Beaver Falls PA
Adele C., State College PA
*Talia M., Indiana PA
Antaya S., Philadelphia PA
Caitlyn C., Chambersburg PA
Emily W., Pittsburgh PA
Rahmir A., Trainer PA
Samantha G., Catawissa PA
*Pennsylvania State winner
The winners were chosen by a team of Googlers and then guest judges—such as Katy Perry, Phineas and Ferb creator and executive producer Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, and recording artist Jordin Sparks—helped to choose the top doodles.