Detail Of Mike Kelley’s Educational Complex, 1995, Acrylic, Latex, Foam Core, Fiberglass, Wood. Source:

First image: Irving Kriesberg, (no title) drawing from the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, c. 1929, graphite on paper. Collection of the Irving Kriesberg Estate Foundation. Second image: Irving Kriesberg, The Victim, 1994, oil on canvas. Collection of the Irving Kriesberg Estate Foundation.

Irving Kriesberg developed an aptitude for art at an early age by filling notebooks with drawings of museum taxidermy he encountered at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History. This early experience of biological rendering made a lasting impression on Kriesberg, who manifested his own animal imagery and phenomenal aesthetic environments throughout his career.

The untitled graphite drawing of a leopard seizing a bird in its claws is from around 1929, which would mean that Irving was about 10 years old when he drew it; the painting, titled The Victim, is from 1994, when Irving was 75. Both compositions feature a large cat pouncing on a bird.

It is amazing to see how interests, explorations and influences from childhood manifest creatively throughout the course of one's life. This is an apt insight into artistic development of a professional artist. Read more about this phenomenon in my latest blog post "The Childhood Origins of Working Artists."

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"

Art + Math

Sol Lewitt, Geometric Shapes Within Geometric Shapes 1979 

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.

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….

Zoë Buckman, "Help I Work at the Ministry," c.1995, fabric and mixed media. Arts writer Priscilla Frank (2017) explains that, “when she was 10 years old, Buckman’s father got a job as a statistician at the Ministry of Defense in London. Imagining her father going to work at such an official building was humorous for her. Having overheard her parents speak of the long process of him receiving security clearance, she wanted to sew him a tie and entrap it in a glass frame.” . Read more about this artwork and others in my blog post "The Childhood Origins of Working Artists" Here's the link to my piece: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/13/the-childhood-origins-of-working-artists/

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

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/

Read my latest blog post on Helen Levitt called "Photographing Children’s Play and Art" on Artfully Learning: https://theartsandeducation.wordpress.com/2023/01/05/photographing-childrens-play-and-art/

Helen Levitt New York, c. 1942 Signed, titled N.Y. and dated CIRCA 1942 on verso

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."