An ancient Egyptian sherd with three children’s drawings. Source: the University of Tübingen’s Athribis-Project.
In an Artfully Learning post titled Artfully Ancient Learning, I analyzed an early 2022 archeological discovery of pottery fragments from Ptolemaic-era Egypt inscribed with a educational content including mathematical problems, grammar exercises and a variety of sketches and pictographs. The inscriptions are believed to be the work of students. Looking at the drawings in particular, I described how the figuration indicated a developmentally appropriate understanding of the ancient Egyptian canon, and how they correspond with contemporary understandings of artistic development. Read more here: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2022/02/10/artfully-ancient/
“Art is literacy of the heart.” -Elliot Eisner
I recently wrote about Khor Ean Ghee and other modern and contemporary artists and designers who have created whimsical designs for playgrounds. You can read my piece here: "Form, Function and Fun: Playgrounds as Art Education."
The Dragon Playground was designed in 1979 by Khor Ean Ghee, an in-house designer from HDB (Housing and Development Board’s) inspired by Chinese dragons, very popular among Chinese in Singapore.
The Ang Mo Kio Dragon Playground is one of two remaining playgrounds in Singapore with this design. The other one is located in Toa Payoh.
https://www.kopitravel.com/Asia/Singapore/Kids-Details?kidsId=1010
#singapore #singapur #kopitravel #travel #asia #visitsingapore #exploresingapore #splendid_urban #cityphotography #cityscape #dragon #playground #dragonplayground #historic #historico #angmokio #hdb #hdbsingapore (at Ang Mo Kio, Singapore)
Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, David Novros, ForrestMyers, Robert Rauschenberg and John Chamberlain, Moon Museum, 1969, lithograph of tantalum nitride film on ceramic wafer. Source: MoMA
Whether or not you believed they put an art museum on the moon, my latest Artfully Learning post highlights art's universal value. Read about how the Space Race impacted art education and led to STEAM learning in "Art Spaces: Interdisciplinary and Interplanetary Explorations Through Artful Learning"
Read my latest blog post on Helen Levitt called "Photographing Children’s Play and Art" on Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/05/photographing-childrens-play-and-art/
Helen Levitt New York, c. 1942 Signed, titled N.Y. and dated CIRCA 1942 on verso
Making art history relevant to all generations is always a challenge, but this does the job!
Teaching Art History with an AI
And other unorthodox uses of MidJourney. /imagine: Monster Under the Bed, Maxfield Parrish This started because my son, who is 17 now, and in his senior year of highschool (hybrid homeschooled and community college courses) was very interested in the MidJourney images I was generating. I’ve said from the beginning that this felt as much like a game, as it did making art. Which appealed to him,…
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Isamu Noguchi's rendering for a playground. I wrote about the educational philosophy behind these artful playgrounds in a post called "Fröbel’s Gifts, Noguchi’s Playgrounds" on Artfully Learning. Read it here: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2020/12/01/frobels-gifts-noguchis-playgrounds/
Jiro Yoshihara, Please Draw Freely, 1956. Paint and marker on wood. Installation view during the Outdoor Gutai Art Exhibition in Ashiya Park, Ashiya, 27 July – 4 August, 1956.
Yoshihara was a leading member of the Japanese avant-garde Gutai Group of visual artists, known for their physical and oft-confrontational artworks. A lesser discussed aspect of their legacy is their contributions to art education, which truly highlight the potency and potential of communal creativity. I wrote about the latter aspect on Artfully Learning in a post called "The Gutai Group: Play, Pedagogy and Possibility." Read it here: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2022/08/03/the-gutai-group-play-pedagogy-and-possibility/
Top: 2- Stage Transfer Drawing. ( Advancing to a Future State), Boise, Idaho. Erik to Dennis Oppenheim, 1971. Bottom: 2- Stage Transfer Drawing. ( Returning to a Past State), Boise, Idaho Dennis to Erik Oppenheim, 1971. Source: The Estate of Dennis Oppenheim
How does drawing extend beyond actual marks made on a surface? Find out in my post "Lineage Drawing," where I describe the impact of a 1970s collaboration between conceptual artist Dennis Oppenheim and his children. Read it via the URL here: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/02/lineage-drawing/
One of Paul Klee’s teaching notes on pictorial creation, reproduced from ‘Paul Klee: Life and Work,’ the authoritative Klee overview, back in print from @hatjecantzverlag The many books on Paul Klee (1879-1940) published over the years should not obscure the fact that there has been no new, comprehensive Klee overview since Will Grohmann’s oft-reprinted 1954 monograph. With 'Paul Klee: Life and Work,’ the @zentrumpaulklee has set out to fill this gap, drawing on a wealth of new resources including the Klee family’s archives, much of which is published here for the first time. Life and work are truly integrated in this massive, 344-page volume: Klee’s vast body of work is surveyed chronologically, as the book narrates his life alongside the abundant reproductions of drawings, paintings, watercolors, sculptures, puppets and numerous archival documents and photographs (nearly 500 reproductions in total). The book divides Klee’s career into eight periods: “Childhood and Youth”; “Munich and the Encounter with the Avant Garde”; “World War I and the Breakthrough to Success”; “At the Bauhaus in Weimar”; “Master of Modern Art”; “The Move to Dusseldorf and the Nazi Rise to Power”; “First Years of Emigration in Bern”; and “Final Years.” The result of many years of research and labor, this magisterial publication demonstrates conclusively why Klee numbers among the most influential and best-loved artists of the past 100 years. Read more via linkinbio. #paulklee #klee #bauhhaus #pictorialcreation #pedagogy #teachingnotes #abstraction https://www.instagram.com/p/CNVmXWQppb_/?igshid=1a3e8wtaf3oag
This week I found myself talking about artist Jayson Musson’s “Art Thoughtz” again. The series of videos are done in a classic YouTube style, with low grade effects, text, and even complete with a low resolution webcam video of Jayson Musson in his persona “Hennessy Youngman”. The videos themselves challenge the art world with humor and exaggeration, spliced together with more seriously delivered well thought out critiques. Musson’s critiques on the history and present state of art bring a fresh level of awareness with a modern way of sharing and creating,YouTube. Critiques are presented in a way that does not shy away from the low brow conventions of the internet but they are embraced and satirized, though shown to be just as ridiculous as much of art’s history. It becomes apparent that these videos humorously lecture a lot about mediums and art culture, but in the modern and very meta stage of the 2010’s, this is clearly art in itself.
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