Virtual gallery as a media to simulate painting appreciation in art learning

The limited numbers of gallery buildings that display art works become an inhibitor in art appreciation learning. On the other hand, the development of digital-based media has not been widely used as an art learning media. This study aims to analyse the development of art students in studying the painting by using the virtual gallery as a learning media based on digital technology. The research design employed the following steps: (1) designing & preparing virtual gallery; (2) inputting some art works as a learning resources; (3) implementing virtual gallery for painting appreciation learning; and (4) evaluating the learning process. The research subjects were 20 students in the art department who were studying painting appreciation. The results showed that students' ability in appreciating painting artwork had increased using virtual gallery as a digital-technology-based media. The improvement includes students' ability in(a) knowing, (b) understanding, (c) analysing, and (d) assessing the artwork. Therefore, it can be concluded that media learning based on technology can simplify art learning, especially in painting appreciation processes.