Art Education Commons^™

The Hanging Sculpture Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

The combining of disparate materials and distinct visual rhythms give these hanging sculptures an improvisational character and a jazz-like musicality.

Black And White Painting With Colored Tissue Paper, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

Combining materials that have very different properties can heighten a child’s sensitivity to those properties and to the possibilities they offer. In this project, instead of the usual cups of paint containing red, yellow, blue, and white, the children are given only black and white paint.

The Entwined Shape Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

This project is excellent for making children aware of the shape of the space between painted forms. It also provides an opportunity to point out how the shape of these spaces relates to the cardboard shapes they have painted.

The Entwined Shape project functions as a compliment to the Attached Shapes Project.

The Tall Box Sculpture Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

A free-standing sculpture offers a completely different experience than what was true of projects which end up affixed to a wall. There is now the opportunity to create an object that occupies the same space the child’s own body occupies.

The Standing Screen Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

In this project, children use rollers rather than brushes to paint on “scored’’ cardboard shapes. “Scored” is a term which means essentially to cut lightly. With cardboard, it means to cut the face-paper of just one side of the cardboard and not cut all the way through the material. A scored piece of cardboard folds very easily along the scored lines.

The Tube Construction Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

There is much learning by doing in this project. Children test out ideas and continuously adjust their thinking as they gain more knowledge about the material they are using. The sculpture is the material evidence of that back-and-forth process of evolving thought.

The Venetian Blind Sculpture Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

The slats from venetian blinds are quite stiff. When combined with cardboard tubes and glue, they allowed for new, and at times remarkable, solutions to the question of how one slat might be joined to another.

The Cardboard Construction Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

A limitation, restriction, or constraint can force us to consider previously unimagined possibilities. In the Cardboard Construction Project, the restriction is a material one. In preparing the materials for this project, I take cardboard and cut or score* it in as many ways as I can think of.

What will quickly become apparent is the surprising variety of forms that can be generated by altering a single material.

The Divided Box Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

For this project I use a broad variety of cardboard materials, along with some wood and paper materials, but I avoid materials with other color. The reason for doing this is to bring more attention to the different textures of the materials that are available.

The Puzzle Painting Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

In this project, each child is given a single sheet of cardboard that has been cut to form a useable puzzle. These puzzles can be as simple or as complex as suits the age of the child. Older children may be able to draw the shapes they want. A teacher can then use a mat-knife to cut the shapes out.

The Shoe Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

Taking an object that is generally associated with a single common purpose and using it for an entirely different purpose is more than just a mischievous, aesthetic diversion—it is a deeply liberating act with considerable implications. It demonstrates an ability to see past the conventions and mental habits that usually limit our thinking. It is an ability that goes to the very heart of invention—not just aesthetic invention, but creative thinking itself.

The Ink Drawing Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

In this project, the children have before them a piece of paper 42” high that is pinned to the wall. A child is given a length of bamboo about as long as they are tall, to which a brush has been inserted. Because the handle of the brush is so long, even a small movement of a child’s hand can create a startlingly long mark on their large paper. This is a thrilling experience for a child, and it offers the opportunity to create a very different vocabulary of marks than they could with a small brush.

The Cut Up Painting Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

With some projects, it is the mischievous allure of a suggested action that draws children in. The Cut-up Painting Project uses this idea to open the door onto a valuable experience: take something which you thought of as whole, complete, finished, then literally cut it to pieces, and then reassemble it to discover a completely new set of possibilities.

The Stretched Fabric Painting Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

One of the first things children will experience is that it feels completely different to paint on fabric stretched over a frame, rather than on a piece of paper lying on a hard floor. The fabric has give to it, and texture. Most significantly, I use patterned fabrics, which is to say, before a child has even made a mark, there is something for them to consider and respond to. The heart of this project lies in the dialogue between the pattern the child encounters and the marks the child makes.

The Vertical Blind Project, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

This project began with a parent donating the very flexible white slats from their vertical window blinds. In the first part of this project, the children were simply given one of the slats to physically experiment with: to explore what was possible with this new, flat, white, flexible material. In addition to getting a feel for its surface texture, weight and floppiness, they explored its capacity to bend and twist. The engagement with their bodies inspired unexpectedly inventive aspects of dance and performance. After a time, we asked them to think about the blind as a material for a sculpture …

Tools, Mats, And Methods For Cutting Materials, Barry Goldberg

College Partner Collection

The material that has been essential to many projects is cardboard. Lightweight, sturdy, inexpensive and easy to shape, cardboard is a remarkably versatile material. It can also be seen as difficult to cut. With the right tools and cutting surface, this need not be the case.

Social Imagining In “Youth Taking Action:” Documenting Immigrating And Settling Through A Hybrid Youth Participatory Action Research Project, Natacha Monestel Mora, Julia Iriarte, Jennifer A. Vadeboncoeur, Sediqa Temori, Mathias Abraha

Occasional Paper Series

This paper is a memoir of our experiences with Youth Taking Action (YTA), a YPAR program that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. YTA, a collaborative effort organized by a non-profit based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, provided a space for 6 newcomer youths and 4 immigrant adults to engage in active dialogue. Through these conversations, we explored stories of immigration and settlement, identified barriers that limit opportunities for young newcomers and discussed possible actions to address these issues. The youth also learned documentary filmmaking techniques, which helped them collect data and generate more dialogue. This process revealed that linguistic …

Painting Our Treescapes: A Visual, Gretel Olson, Ingrid Olson, Stephanie Schuurman-Olson

Occasional Paper Series

Two children (ages 6 and 9) represent an afternoon spent in their urban, wintery treescape through visual art, photo documentation, and written narrative. The first piece, "My Imaginary Forest", considers the seasons, animals, and issues of artistic representation of nature. The second piece describes the relationship between a favourite tree and a child, and considers others -- both present and future -- who also occupy "Our Knotty Tree". All of the words, visual art, and photo selection are those of the children.

The High Lonesome Sound In Little Voices: The Use Of Appalachian Balladry In The Early Childhood Classroom, Lance Piao

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Although both music and poetry are thoroughly-integrated into the Early Childhood classroom, the ballad, their intersection, has not been studied. Appalachian music features a prominent tradition of balladry, a synthesis of several different music traditions. With the increased interest in Appalachian Studies after the 2016 U.S. presidential election, the study of Appalachian custom has become increasingly relevant. From a critical-historical perspective, the ballads, their collection, and their analysis have been used to perpetuate the oppressive structures that have come under increased scrutiny since 2016. This study is a hypothetical curriculum for integrating the study of Appalachian ballads into the Early …

Art & Early Childhood: Personal Narratives & Social Practices

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Writing History: A Teacher’S Guide To The History Of Language Technology And Museum Practice, Sonya Ochshorn

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The following document contains a guide for classroom teachers to use when bringing a class of 6th graders to a museum with ancient writing techniques, illuminated manuscripts, and books printed with movable type in their collection. The guide shows teachers how to guide students through the journey of tackling the essential question, “How have technological evolutions in language affected society?” This guide also helps teachers understand the difference in teaching in a museum setting and why this kind of learning is important for student development.

A Best Practice Guide For Teaching Artists: The Planning And Implementation Of Arts-Integrated Partnerships With Classroom Teachers, Lauren Patricia Ehrhart

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This Integrative Master's Project is a guide for Teaching Artists to use when planning and implementing arts-integrated partnerships with classroom teachers. This paper discusses the process of creating five original resources based on best practices of experienced arts-integration professionals. The resources are the product of ten interviews with experienced teaching artists and administrators of cultural organizations, who employ teaching artists in interdisciplinary school partnerships. These resources are in the form of worksheets, spreadsheets and charts and aim to help guide-teaching artists in the creation of successful collaborations with classroom teachers.

Art Power!: Exploring The Black Arts Movement, Imani Parkinson

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Art Power! is a curriculum guide designed for educators of early adolescents who are interested in integrating art history, cultural institutions, and art making into their curricula. The guide seeks to highlight two New York City based institutions: The Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture and The Studio Museum in Harlem. In addition, the intended audience is for middle school students in New York City. It is believed this audience would benefit from learning about the history of African American culture related to New York City’s neighborhoods and the exposure to cultural institutions who value this narrative. Art Power! includes …

Enhanced Participation: Creating Opportunities For Youth Leadership Development, Clara Waloff

Occasional Paper Series

Demonstrates how young people in an arts-based after-school program develop leadership.

Time For A Paradigm Shift: Recognizing The Critical Role Of Pictures Within Literacy Learning, Beth Olshansky

Occasional Paper Series

Broadens the definition of literacy with the help of children’s drawings and conversations. The author shows how the social practices of literacy are enacted in and through the visual.

Theorising Through Visual & Verbal Metaphors: Challenging Narrow Depictions Of Children And Learning, Sophie Rudolph

Occasional Paper Series

Through a rich description of how young children use drawing to express their emerging understandings of the world, Rudolph disrupts narrow definitions of the child as learner.

Art Education At Bank Street College, Then And Now, Edith Gwathmey, Ann Marie Mott

Occasional Paper Series

Takes readers through the history of art education at Bank Street College to show the innovative and child-centered approaches that continue to challenge dominant educational thinking.

The Existential Territories Of Global Childhoods: Resingularizing Subjectivity Through Ecologies, Laura Trafí-Prats

Occasional Paper Series

Draws upon photography to discuss the construction of childhood within the ecological spaces of globalization.

Seeing Meaning, Barry Goldberg

Occasional Paper Series

Artist Barry Goldberg narrates his personal experiences working with young children, exposes the limitations of words and suggests the possibility of a responsiveness from adults that serves to open and sustain creative thinking.

You can see detailed methodology and images of children's art in the accompanying materials in the College Partner Collection.

The Affective Flows Of Art-Making, Bronwyn Davies

Occasional Paper Series

Invites readers to consider the transient and surprising things that occur for both adult and child within the rhythmic flows of art making.