Joseph Beuys - Untitled (2)

Hennessy Youngman's "Art Thoughtz episode on institutional critique.

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/

Hamish Fulton, Seven Paces, 2003, cast iron installation. Photograph by Hans Weingartz, CC BY-SA 2.0 DE https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/deed.en, via Wikimedia Commons

I wrote about how we can walk with a purpose by expressing habits of mind that we learn through art. Read "How to walk like an Artist" on my blog, Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/19/how-to-walk-like-an-artist/

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.

My practice is largely focused on play as an artistic and pedagogical activity and philosophy. I recently wrote an essay called "Form, Function and Fun: Playgrounds as Art Education," about the fun and informative history of artist created playgrounds. In addition to several examples of actual playgrounds created by artists, I include a tried and true example of a lesson I like to use where students make their own paper playgrounds. You can read my essay here.

Image: One of Khor Ean Ghee’s dragon playgrounds in front of a community housing development in Toa Payoh, Singapore. Photograph by Jimmy Tan, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

My latest blog post "The Beuys and the Bees," is about Joseph Beuys' socially engaged impact on art and education. Read it on Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2022/11/13/the-beuys-and-the-bees/

“Art is literacy of the heart.” -Elliot Eisner

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/

A highly inventive childhood drawing by renowned American abstract painter Louise Fishman.

Louise Fishman, FOOD COUPONS FOR IMAGINARY BROTHERS & SISTERS, 1947 

Note, she’d have been around 8 at the time.

Playground sculptures. A fun, whimsical and culturally universal way to inspire learning!

Fiastyúk (then Thälmann) street housing estate, Budapest, 1960. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.