Art + Math

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

Girl on the swings, 1953.

Photo: Ernst Haas via Design You Trust

Angélique du Coudray’s La Machine was a groundbreaking obstetric phantom. Read about how this innovative soft sculpture inspired radical changes in medical education in the Artfully Learning post Abrégé de l’art des accouchements (The Art of Obstetrics)

Graphite drawing of a lady with a parasol, made by Paul Klee between ages 4 and 6. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

Read more about the childhood artwork of well known artists in my latest Artfully Learning post here.

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.

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

Holy Night Ruthie Aybar 3rd Grade USA

Source: The Henry Schaefer-Simmern Collection, Children's Museum of Art, New York (CMA1264.20)

Sister Corita Kent’s "10 Rules for Students, Teachers, and Life," 1967-68.

Corita Kent’s list for students, educators, and everyday experiences, serves as sagely and flexible advice for living life in a more creative capacity. It incorporates the trials and tribulations, as well as the joys of being an artist (or being artful) and/or an educator. Read more about the pedagogy behind Kent's list in my Artfully Learning post "Making a list, checking it twice, going to receive some artistic advice"

Hugh Hayden, Brier Patch, 2022. Installed at Madison Square Park in New York City. Photograph by Yasunori Matsui, courtesy of Madison Square Park Conservancy.

Read about Hugh Hayden's thorny and artful critique of inequity within the public education system in NYC (and by extension, the U.S.A at large) in the post "Into the weeds of public education" on Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2022/05/07/into-the-weeds-of-public-education/

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/

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/