Artfully Learning

Art + Education Blog: Artfully Learning Podcast: Artfully Learning Audio Series

[bauhaus-movement]

Alma Siedhoff-Buscher (1899–1944) developed the Bauhaus Bauspiel in 1923 as part of the children’s room in the Haus am Horn.

Composed of simple geometric elements, the game had no fixed outcome, only possibilities. A system of form and color, open to interpretation and creation.

It reflects a central Bauhaus idea: learning through making, thinking through form.

Experience the Bauhaus legacy where these ideas were shaped, through curated journeys and original sites. → https://www.bauhaus-experience.com

[artfullearner]

Nancy Graves, Untitled #127 (Drawing of the Moon), c.1972, watercolor, gouache and pencil on paper, 30 x 22 1/2 inches. (c) 2019 Nancy Graves Foundation, Inc. / Licensed by VAGA, New York; Courtesy of the Nancy Graves Foundation and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.

“You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.” These words were relayed to us from our fellow Earthling, astronaut Victor Glover, from aboard the Artemis II as it was traveling around the moon, approximately 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth.

Reflecting on astronaut Victor Glover's Easter message, I wrote about the juxtaposition of art and science. Art bridges seemingly disparate social and culture gaps; and illuminates the reality that our shared humanity is the most distinguishing element of our existence.

View the full post here.

[chantssecrets]

Corita Kent, it is the property of true genius to disturb all settled ideas, 1970

[lucybellwood]

From Learning by Heart: teachings to free the creative spirit by Corita Kent and Jan Steward

[artfullearner]

Corita Kent, agonies, 1976, serigraph. Corita Art Center, 2025.

“Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. To create means to relate. The root meaning of the word #art is 'to fit together' and we all do this every day." - Corita Kent, quoted in the Artfully Learning post "Odes to Empathy"

Read the entire post here.

[nemfrog]

Things to notice when drawing a cat's face. What to draw and how to draw it. c. 1913.

Internet Archive

[artfullearner]

W.E.B. Du Bois, [The Georgia Negro] Assessed valuation of of all taxable property owned by Georgia Negroes, c.1900, ink and watercolor on board. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

From the Artfully Learning post "W.E.B. Du Bois’ Visual Lessons About the Black Experience in Academic, Professional and Everyday Life":

"At the turn of the 20th century, sociologist and civil rights activist, W.E.B. Du Bois, enlisted the help of his students at Atlanta University, to create a series of infographics representing the trials and tribulations, successes and contributions of Black individuals during the years following the emancipation of enslaved African Americans through the end of the nineteenth century....Du Bois was ahead of his time in many regards. From an aesthetic standpoint, his semi-abstract compositions utilize a geometric and lyrical sensibility that predates modernist abstraction by several years (Hilma af Klint and Wassily Kandinsky are considered the pioneers of abstract painting in Western art."

Read the full post here.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Girl on the swings, 1953.

Photo: Ernst Haas via Design You Trust

[artfullearner]

You know that play is an essential and profound part of humanity when it's inspired countless works of art.

[scavengedluxury]

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

[artfullearner]

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

[germanpostwarmodern]

When Aldo van Eyck assumed work at the Amsterdam Public Works (Amsterdam Publieke Werken) one task soon became his focal point: the design of playgrounds accessible for every child in every neighborhood of the city. Until then there existed only secluded playgrounds initiated by playground associations of which children had to be member to gain access. On Jacoba Mulder’s initiative Van Eyck made a first design for the Bertelmanplein consisting of a sandbox in which four large rocks and an arch-shaped climbing frame were placed. This design was his point of departure for many more playgrounds to come (Van Eyck eventually realized some 700 of them) but also a testing ground for his ideas about architecture, relativity and imagination. Especially with regards to relativity. i.e. the non-hierarchical arrangement of the different components based on their mutual relationships, the playgrounds proved to be of great importance for Van Eyck’s theoretical reflections.

In 2002 the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam devoted an entire exhibition to Aldo van Eyck’s playground that was accompanied by the present catalogue: „Aldo van Eyck: De Speelplaatsen en de Stad“, edited by Liane Lefaivre & Ingeborg de Roode and published by NAi uitgevers. The catalogue collects a wealth of photos and drawings that in turn provide insights into a body work that in many ways appealed to the architect. For Aldo van Eyck the children’s perspective on city and architecture as well as the lighthearted creativity that went along with it were of integral importance. As the authors show, he had his play equipment designs tested by his own children and at the same time let himself inspire by artists and artworks he admired. The result were playgrounds that on the one hand appealed to children and on the other hand tell a lot about Van Eyck’s intellectual and creative reference system. Unfortunately only a fraction of them still exist today….

[artfullearner]

I couldn't include everyone in my piece my piece "Form, Function and Fun: Playgrounds as Art Education," so I'll have to do a follow up blog post discussing Aldo van Eyck's work and philosophy around play and playground design.

[fujio-pand-park]

東京都狛江市多摩川住宅ニ号棟

中央公園

※多摩川住宅ニ号等も建替えが決定しました。

★多摩川住宅の写真展をしたいので、調布市・狛江市で団地の公園遊具の写真展を開催できるスペースを探してます。オススメの場所などありましたらご連絡ください！

#公園遊具　#公園　#playground #park #playsculpture #artwork #photoism #tokyo #japantravel

#多摩川住宅　#多摩川　#団地　#石の山　#調布　#狛江

[artfullearner]

I love Fujio Kito's photographs of playgrounds around Japan. There are so many artful and thoughtful designs for play spaces and structures throughout the Japanese cultural landscape.

[simoneschiefer]

Rocks On Wheels, 2022, Mike Hewson                    

Rocks On Wheels is sculpture park playground consisting of 24 large monolithic bluestone boulders on domestic-scale furniture dollies.

88 Southbank Boulevard, Melbourne, VIC

[artfullearner]

Playground art.

[kopitravel]

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)

[artfullearner]

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."

[artfullearner]

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.

[artfullearner]

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"

[oneinchlunch-deactivated2023062]

isamu noguchi 

[artfullearner]

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/

[artfullearner]

Harold Cohen coloring the forms produced AARON’s drawing Turtle at the Computer Museum, Boston, MA, ca. 1982. Collection of the Computer History Museum, 102627459. Is it possible to stop worrying and learn to coexist with AI? That's the question I begin to explore in the Artfully Learning post "Living and Learning with AI?" Read here: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/living-and-learning-with-ai/