Left: Jayson Musson as “Jay” with “Ollie.” Jayson Musson, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, His History of Art, 2022. Photo credit: Carlos Avendaño. Right: Joseph Beuys during his performance of How to Explain Pictures to a Dead Hare, Schelma Gallery, Dusseldorf, 26 November 1965. Photo credit: Walter Vogel.
I went to Philly to see His History of Art by Jayson Musson at the Fabric Workshop and Museum and wrote about its pedagogical use of satire to challenge art educational conventions on my blog Artfully Learning. Read about it in the post "Whose History of Art?"
Detail of Mike Kelley’s Educational Complex, 1995, acrylic, latex, foam core, fiberglass, wood. Source: https://mikekelleyfoundation.org/artwork/educational-complex
This might sound shocking coming from an education blogger, but I have been wondering whether compulsory education and traditional schools are leading us astray and even worse, harming our students’ well-being. My post, "Educational Complex" explores topics of unschooling and Youth Rights and uses artist Mike Kelley's Educational Complex as an example of some problems within compulsory education. Read it on Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2022/08/01/educational-complex/
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/
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.
Art + Math
Sol Lewitt, Geometric Shapes Within Geometric Shapes 1979
Birch bark letter no. 202: spelling lessons and drawings by Onfim (aged 6 or 7), c.1240–1260. Source: Wikimedia commons
Find out more about this drawing in my Artfully Learning post: "Ancient Art Education"
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.
Painter's Palette Inscribed with the Name of Amenhotep III ca. 1390–1352 B.C.
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Carved from a single piece of ivory with wells for six different pigments. It is inscribed with the throne name of Amenhotep III, Nebmaatre, and the epithet "beloved of Re."
Helen Levitt, Graffiti: Chalk Drawing of Figure with Double Pupils, New York City, c.1940, gelatin silver print. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
American photographer Helen Levitt is known for her documentary and candid style street photography of everyday life. One of her recurring subjects is children at play. She also captured their whimsical works of art, such as this 1940s photograph of a children's chalk drawing in New York City.
Hennessy Youngman's "Art Thoughtz episode on institutional critique.
“Art is literacy of the heart.” -Elliot Eisner
Art + Education Blog: Artfully Learning Podcast: Artfully Learning Audio Series
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