Today is Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day. What does that mean? Well, dozens of museums around the country will be offering free admission all day today. It’s a great opportunity to see the art and culture on display in your area, or take a little day trip to see exhibitions nearby.

The only catch is that you’ll need to download and print out the official admission card from the Smithsonian website. After you have it on hand, though, you’re guaranteed free general admission.

To print out your admission card, and to find out what local  venues are participating, visit the Museum Day microsite.

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The Free Art Fair provides an excellent opportunity to pick up work from artists who you might not have otherwise been able to afford. But, plan on being there early, as the catalog will be limited, and the demand high. The Free Art Fair runs from Oct. 12- Oct. 18 at The Barbican.

Not a jetsetter? No problem! You have the chance to be a nosy neighbor at Cyril Lecomte-Languérand’s new installation “You Are Under Arrest,” which is taking place at the HSF (Harlem Studio Fellowship) in New York City all this month. The work incorporates both websites and computers and allows visitors to take a peak inside the HSF itself. Visit the installation’s website to grab the Wifi info you’ll need to access all of the onsite artwork.

Admittedly one of the finest institutions in the world, the Smithsonian encompasses so much more than just archaeology. If you’ve ever visited the museums in DC, you’re well aware of this. If not, boy! you’re in for a treat!

The Smithsonian wants to keep you culturally up to date through its Twitter feed, @Smithsonian. The feed covers anything from new museum exhibits to trivia to breaking cultural news. I guarantee you’ll learn something new every day you follow them!

Also, if you’ve never visited the SI website before, be sure to check it out too. There’s a wealth of knowledge waiting for you.

Photo by ehpien on Flickr.

Here are links to three of the world’s top art museums’ Twitter accounts:

• The Museum of Modern Art (NY, USA): Victor Samra, Digital Media rep for the museum, is in charge of the MoMa Twitter account. He’s pretty active and is great about responding to Tweets. You’ll find info on upcoming exhibits and happenings, current events and other goings on at the museum.

• Tate Galleries (London, UK): The Tate account keeps you up to date with what’s happening, in real time, at the galleries in Britain. I’m a big fan of the Tate Modern, so I really appreciate their Tweets about what’s going on in the Turbine Hall, or any upcoming exhibits. Oh, and if you’re planning a trip to London, you might want to follow just for the occasional promo codes.

• Museo del Prado (Madrid, Spain): The Prado’s Twitter feed is en español, but if you know Spanish, it’ll keep you abreast with news about exhibitions, events and publication releases. The Prado seems to be really embracing technology as of late, and if you’re not a Spanish-speaker but still appreciate the museum, you might want to check out their awesome high-res art scans in Google Earth.

Enter deviantART.

deviantART is a social hub for aspiring and established artists alike. Here you’ll find photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, traditional fine artists and more. The bulk of the work showcased on deviantART seems to be comic/illustrative in nature (to me, at least), but if you look hard enough, you can fine some great art for sale in their stores.

The best part? Everything I’ve encountered is under $100. I wouldn’t mind having any of the following artists’ work hanging on my wall (and will probably purchase some of it in the future when I have more wall space):

Naples by *Leonidafremov on deviantART

Leonid Afremov is an oil painter from Florida who has a gift for capturing light reflecting off of water. His works are vibrant and colorful without going overboard and are a joy to look at. They cover a variety of subjects, but focus mainly on landscapes and still life compositions. Afremov offers photo-sized prints through deviantART, but links to his website for original, full-sized prints.

dream by ^zerocomplex on deviantART

Keith Franke aka zerocomplex has a beautiful array of photography in his cadre of work. Based in Hong Kong, his works tend to focus on the urban or the natural. I especially like his more abstracted pictures, like the one above. He has fine art prints available in different sizes directly through deivantART.

Square without title 1 by ~StephanusEmbricanus on deviantART

Stefan Kindermann aka StephanusEmbricanus is a German painter who has a prolific art portfolio displayed on deviantART. He has sculptures, surrealist paintings, digital art, and abstract pieces – to name a few. All of it is high-quality work and equally compelling to the viewer. He has fine art prints and wrapped canvases available for purchase in his deviantART store.

@kunstart: Kunst Art compiles exhibition information for 500 Belgian galleries. The actual website has gallery maps, a “picture explorer,” and galleries organized by city for easy navigation. Their Twitter feed lets you stay up to on the latest exhbition announcements, and shares neat tidbits and news from the art world.

@TokyoArtBeat_EN: Tokyo Art Beat is a hip art and design events calendar for what’s going on in Tokyo. It covers all art genres (inlcuding urban and street) and operates in both Japanese and English (this is the link for the English Twitter feed). They always link to really cool stuff on their Twitter feed, and you’re bound to discover new artists through them.

@theartmarket: The Art Market updates on the goings on of the art world. In addition to gallery news, you can also find auction and art fair updates. It’s very comprehensive and always has great information. Want to know what sold at the Christie’s auction block? What’s going on at notable galleries? What’s being rumored and whipsered about? You’ll find it all here.

Look for more great suggestions next Tuesday!

Inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, Google has teamed up with the Guggenheim Museum to host an architectural design competition. It will utilize some of Google’s cooler products (like Earth and SketchUp), and will culminate on the 50th anniversary of the Guggenheim (it was announced on Wright’s birthday last week).

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of buildings this challenge produces. With a whole world (literally) of inspirational sources to choose from, I’m sure the judges are going to have a wide variety of shelters submitted!

More importantly, though, I hope that Google takes this opportunity and runs with it. They’re so influential and innovative that I think they could do great things for the arts…especially now that budgets and funds are being dramatically cut to combat the current economic situation. When Google talks, people listen. People need to remember how important the arts are – whether it be in a high school classroom, at the local gallery down the street, or hanging on the walls of the Guggenheim – and they need to preserve them.

Thanks, Google, for being a bit of an art patron, and for promoting artisitic creativity.

Screenshot of the Art Knowledge News feed

Art Knowledge News is a terrific eMagazine for those who want the latest news on exhibits, acquisitions, auction sales worldwide and more. It’ll keep you up to date on anything happening in the art world.

Want to know what’s up next at the Louvre? How about the final sale price of that Monet painting being sold at Sothebys? Or maybe you’d just like to find out who’s on exhibit at your local gallery? It’s all there in their eMag.

In addition, if you’re looking for a good place to find art resources, Art Knowledge News should be on your list of places to visit. They’ve got a collection of artists’ quotes, a Flickr directory, and a link roll that reads like the Who’s Who of the art world. They can point you in the direction of reputable art appraisers and are open to submissions if you’ve got news to share.

I’ve subscribed to their feed for about two years now, and there’s always something interesting to read. In fact, it’s become the first place I turn to for art-related news.

Check it out!

What about all of the low-budget directors, up-and-coming filmsters and artists who use the Internet to get their work out there for people to see?

Vimeo is a hotbed of artistic talent. Animation, experimental film, art and web series are just a few of the types of videos hosted on the site right now. With over a million users, there’s plenty of material to sift through.

I like watching artistic films when I have the free time, and have found the aptly-named Video Art channel a good place to turn to. They try to aggregate exemplary works of digital, experimental, and interactive art…like this one. (It wouldn’t embed properly, so the best I can give is the link!)

I like Vimeo’s channels because I can pick and choose which types of film I’m interested in, and I get exposed to a variety of work. I also like that it gives me an opportunity to watch things that I might never have seen otherwise…without having to muddle through thousands upon thousands of videos (like on YouTube).

How about you…do you use sites like Vimeo to watch films?

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has an interesting podcast that features curators talking about their exhibits, or interviewing artists whose work is currently on display.

It’s not the most exciting thing in the world – it reminds me of guest speakers on NPR – but it provides all sorts of cool background information on the pieces. If you’re an art aficionado, or like art history, you’ll probably enjoy this podcast too.

Recent episodes have looked at bronze sculptures from France, paintings from the Korean Renaissance and a central African religious figure. In short, there’s something for everyone, and if you’re not interested in the current episode, the next one might be up your alley.

Also, if you’re a visual person, they’ve included episode transcripts and visual slide shows to supplement the audio material.

It feels like that humanities class you always wanted to take – but without the tests, memorization, or 2-hour long lectures.

Oh, and if podcasts aren’t your thing? They’ve got Flickr, YouTube and an Artwork of the Day RSS feed, among other things.

I love that the Met knows art is made to be seen and enjoyed, and has made it easily accessible online. It’s only a bonus that they’ve embraced social media as a way to share it.