finding kindergarten...

friday night we went to the opening of the "inventing kindergarten" show art center college of design's williamson gallery. the exhibition consists of a large portion of norman brosterman's incredible collection of early froebel related kindergarten objects that were amassed while writing his 1997 book "inventing kindergarten". brosterman's book suggests that froebel's kindergarten teaching methods of the mid 1800's influenced the beginnings of the bauhaus, abstract art, and the work of frank lloyd wright. of course one glance at the materials and you can see that his ideas make sense. through different activities of drawing and making, froebel's teaching methods developed a kind of visual (and tactile) thinking that clearly connects art, science, math, and architecture.

the show is a mind bendingly beautiful selection of paper weavings, cuttings, sewings, etc. made by children and kindergarten teachers in the early part of the 20th century. these works reference josef albers, bridget riley, paul klee, richard tuttle, rudolf steiner, frank lloyd wright, the shakers, and everything in between. it's a visually compelling pathway towards pure abstraction through what was historically considered the humble crafts of "women's work" and children's games. remarkably, it's the first time brosterman's collection has been exhibited, and i would highly HIGHLY recommend the show to anyone in the southern california area - and also checking out the show's co-sponsor, the insitute for figuring

a few years ago, thanks to my good friend bloggsy i was lucky enough to get my hands on three books of foldings, cuttings, and sewings that were most likely put together by a teacher as examples for students circa 1900. they've been in my studio as inspiration ever since... seeing brosterman's collection gave me goosebumps, so it seemed time to share my own. today i've posted some sewing works...