When two-dimensional space meets three-dimensional art, the result is a cyber-collaboration between Brunnier Art Museum, Farm House Museum and the Art on Campus Program.

Located at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~museums, the University Museum’s Web site is designed to be a colorful and fascinating look at the world of art.

The site is good for students, scholars and appreciators of art, said Renee Senter, Museum Education Coordinator at Iowa State.

“It’s been years in the making,” Senter said, “really before the Internet even existed.”

Although collections like Art on Campus have been available on CD-ROM, the site is all about “making art collections more accessible to the public,” Senter said.

“You can do a search by building, number, artist or location,” she added.

The site fell into Web master Amy O’Brien’s lap almost by accident.

“I graduated from Iowa State in December, and I was looking for experience,” O’Brien said.

Although initially her work on the site was volunteer, O’Brien is now a full-time employee who is paid for the work she enjoys.

“I started off just doing an education Web site, and it sort of developed into doing the full Web site for the museums,” O’Brien said. “I’ve just been excited about developing it and hopefully it’s reaching a wider audience.”

Despite the fact that University Museums has had only a limited amount of time for publicity, feedback already has been coming in from around the world.

“I got email from somebody in Europe the other day and he asked about our collection,”O’Brien said.

Which is exactly what museums want, Senter said.

“In most larger museums, some things never come out of storage,” Senter added. “Museums should be available in a way that can be accessed and used, much like your average library.”

The only site limitation is imposed by the Internet’s quality, but that does not limit the site’s academic usefulness, Senter stressed.

“If you went to an art history book and you wanted to take some information on a painting home, you’d make a Xerox copy,” Senter said. “Once you have that Xerox, you can always use it for reference or as a guide to seeing the actual art.”

To hear it from the Web master, the biggest challenge is not the quality of the graphics but the speed of information.

“The art shows change fairly often, and there’s always new programming,” O’Brien said.

The University Museums Web site is undergoing restructuring and incorporating their single biggest and newest event — the Art on Campus collection. The collection will be available through the Internet on Oct. 31.