Inspiration

(July 15, 2021) The folks at 99% Invisible have created some fab new podcasts and articles on the relationship between children, play and the material world. And because I am a massive nerd, I have created summaries of them to share with you! I highly recommend listening to the podcasts (links are included below) as they are entertaining, well-researched and only around 25-minutes long. Isamu Noguchi (design) and Shoji Sadao (architect). Moerenuma Park, Sapporo Japan. 1988-2

(June 16, 2021) Fiber artist Katrina Sánchez Standfield’s giant textile sculptures take weaving to a whole new level. Born in the Republic of Panama and currently living in Charlotte, North Carolina; her art practice explores the connection between color, texture, touch, and humanity. In this interview, Kat shares the experiences, people, and places that inspired her incredible art. “My work explores ideas of community, healing, and renewal align. My artworks require many ind

(October 28, 2020) This post is the third in the ‘Art in Childhood series’ that looks at the experience of famous artists in childhood! The first blog post looked at Australian painter Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. The second post zoomed in on Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu who talked about growing up in East Arnhem in Australia. Patricia Piccinini is one of Australia’s most acclaimed contemporary artists. Her hyperreal sculptures exp

October 7, 2020 Image credit: Buku-Larrŋgay Mulka Art Centre This post is the second in a series that explores the childhood experiences of artists. In each post, a different esteemed artist shares their account of the people and experiences that inspired them to pursue a career in the field. The first post featured the story of Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. This blog post features the work of Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu. Djerrkŋu

(September 23, 2020) This post features a video interview with artist Lorna Rose. She talks about her approach to creative learning, like the importance of flexibility, multiculturalism, and inclusivity in education. We live in a world of great cultural, social, and political diversity. As the great art educator Maxine Greene said, the arts play an integral role in the growth of social cohesion by encouraging children to empathize with others from different background. This w

(January 30, 2020) I recently had an article published in the Weekend Australian that looked at different artists’ experience of art in childhood. You can read the original article in full here: ‘Why teach kids art?’, published in The Australian, September 12, 2020 The article features the stories of four esteemed Australian artists -Patricia Piccinini, Djerrkngu Yunupingu, John Wolseley, and Ben Quilty- who share their experience of art while growing up. Something that I fou

(January 13, 2020) Documenting children’s learning is an intricate process. In this expert interview, Mara Krechevsky, a senior researcher at Harvard’s Project Zero research centre, discusses the ins-and-outs of making learning visible. Documenting children’s learning is a complex and (sometimes) confusing process. Questions of how educators can use documenting to support learning are deeply intertwined with debates surrounding ethical and political assumptions in education.

November 12, 2019 John Wolseley, aged four. Image: the artist This post, featuring artist John Wolseley, is the fourth story in the ‘Art in Childhood series’ that looks at the experience of famous artists in childhood! The first blog post looked at Australian painter Ben Quilty who shared his story of growing up on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia. The second post zoomed in on Djerrkŋu Yunupiŋu who talked about growing up in East Arnhem in Australia. The third post featured

(July 18, 2019) Artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie, otherwise known as the creative duo ‘Leap Then Look,’ have spent the last year putting together participatory art projects across some of London’s most renowned art and education institutions including the Royal Academy of Art, Tate and the Thomas Tallis School. Above: Artists Lucy Cran and Bill Leslie, the creative duo who form ‘Leap and Look.’ Image credit: Alun Callender Their work is underpinned by the philosophy that con

Frederich Fröbel’s founded the first kindergarten in 1700s Germany. Since this time, his work on education has influenced many people including a myriad of teachers, artists and architects. In this blog post, Eamon O’Kane – an Irish-born, Norway-based visual artist and Professor at Bergen University – talks about how different early childhood educators, including Fröbel, have inspired his art practice. “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop pl

March 12, 2019 Toby K’s ‘Echo table’ on display at the Ipswich Art Gallery in Australia. This interactive artwork encouraged children to draw using their shadow. What is creativity? Vygotsky believed that creativity arises from any human activity that produces something new. Creative acts could produce anything from physical objects to a music score to a new mental construct. Creativity is therefore present when major artistic, scientific and technical discoveries are made. I

February 28, 2019 The use of plastic in classrooms is becoming an important issue for teachers. For example, public schools in the United Kingdom have been encouraged to eliminate single-use plastics (like straws, disposable water bottles and glitter) by the end of 2022. However, plastic can also be a wonderful material for artistic experimentation, as Dutch designer Jessica den Hartog shares with us in this post. Jessica is a researcher and designer whose artistic practice h

August 16, 2018 “Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers” – Josef Albers “In visual perception, a thing is never seen as it really is” – Josef Albers The cover of Interaction of Color. Published by Yale University Press in 1963. Who was Josef Albers? Josef Albers (1888-1976) was a German-born artist, designer and educator. He firstly trained and worked as a primary school teacher before formally studying painting at the Royal Academy o

June 27, 2018 In 1973 Ivan Illich, a Catholic priest and Professor at Penn State University, published his famous text, Tools for Conviviality. In the book, he argued for people’s need to take control of the tools and processes of production that shaped their lives. Illich believed that people’s ability to participate in these processes would allow them to live more meaningful lives. Read on to learn more about the key ideas explored in Tools for Conviviality. What did Illich

May 17, 2018 Young children have become an increasingly important audience for museums around the world. While many cultural institutions offer something for children, approaches and practices towards this audience vary dramatically across the sector. In this post, early childhood and museum education specialist Sharon Shaffer shares her top tips for connecting young children with museum objects. Sharon was Director of the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Centre (SEEC) for 24 yea

April 26, 2018 In 1972 Simon Nicholson, the son of artists Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth, presented the idea that young children’s cultural participation comes from the presence of open-ended ‘loose part’ materials that can be transformed in different ways. This post explores the key principles of the theory, including key debates surrounding it. What is loose parts theory? The term ‘loose parts’ was coined by Simon Nicholson, an English architect and artist. The loose p

This post looks at the art of Rachel Whiteread, a contemporary British sculptor who creates objects and spaces using different materials such as resin, plaster, concrete, rubber and plastic. Her works range from small-scale moulds of everyday objects such as hot water bottles to gigantic life-sized houses. Tate Britain in London recently exhibited a retrospective of her sculptures. As part of the show, her installation ‘Untitled (one hundred spaces)’ (1995) was displayed in t

This post looks at Daiga Grantina’s installation ‘Toll,’ to consider how the sculpture could be used to design a children’s material-play environment. I am still recovering from the awesomeness of all the modern and contemporary art I encountered on my recent trip to Paris. A highlight was seeing Daiga Grantina’s gigantic, multi-media sculpture, ‘Toll’ at the Palais de Tokyo. In this post, I take a closer look at Daigna’s experimentation with materials in the installation. I