children, drawings, collection, world, ethnography, learning, education, charitable, charity, human rights
Author: Léo Beaulieu
Léo joined the education sector after a career as association manager in the cultural sector, in Quebec and Ontario. His college studies in special education preceded his university studies in philosophy. His academic path helped shape his interest for human rights and its promotion.
For Léo, the creation of CDIC-CIDE springs naturally from his commitment to promote individual expression, to the benefit of society at large.
Most of our collection items were made before personal computers or Internet were a thing. This alone is a good reason to celebrate the fact that our website received 30k unique visitors from several countries, who left well over 600k hits in 2024.
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We do our best to expand the conversation about the preservation of children’s expression, regardless if it is artistically motivated or otherwise. We welcome volunteers, donors, and items contributors.
It took an artist to first say that every child is an artist. It is easy to imagine an athlete saying that every child is an athlete because they love to run, or a civil engineer saying that every child is an engineer because they build dikes after rainfalls. Why don’t we agree that a child, is a child, is a child, is just about anything a child cares to be at play?
This blog post is about children making drawings while learning about natural science. It is about 23 children 3-6 year old in an early childhood class that participated in a study led by three researchers: Sabela F. Monteira, Maria Pilar Jiménez-Aleixandre, and Isabel Martins. The project resulted in a detailed article published in Cultural Studies of Science Education (Vol. 19, pp. 295-315) and available on Springer Nature: Cultural semiotic resources in young children’s science drawings.
The researchers examined two series of drawings of snails made a month apart during three years. They asked “which meanings do young children communicate with visual cultural semiotic resources available in the science classroom?” The authors deserve credit for recognizing “the need for expanding the borders of the object of research and examining the full social situation where learning takes place, considering the specific culture as well as the dynamics of children’s thinking.” They provide an excellent conceptual and historical context for their project, giving children, their teachers, and their interactions enough space for a solid input in the results. They understand drawing as a “social process” whose contents are “culturally mediated.”
Their observations are many and valuable. They documented the evolution from anthropomorphic, often influenced by the media or children’s literature, to more realistic representations, based on experience. They describe the strategies children use to highlight body parts or elements of importance to them. The positive impact of verbal exchanges with their teachers on the drawing experience is also underlined. Another valuable insight from this study is the influence of writing skills on the drawing tasks. The children learn to write and read parallel to the project, and this development is integrated to their drawing activity and how they frame specific elements of their images.
The research team did not say that every child is a malacologist. Two thumbs up to that.
Helix pomatia or Burgundy snail. Photo: Waugsberg. Source: Wikimedia, 2024.
They had been asked by to draw their family, their pet, an endangered species, a war, a politician, a scientists, their solution to save the planet, and much more. Two Polish researchers asked them to draw artists, and they did not like what they saw.
Małgorzata Karczmarzyk is assistant professor at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Gdańsk (Poland). Dominika Szelągowska teaches visual arts at a high school in the same city. They are both practicing visual artists and art educators.
Their article Artists in the Eyes of Children – Semiotic Analysis of the Meanings about Artists Constructed by Children was published in Kultura i Edukacja in 2018 (No.2, pp. 131-141). The study was very small in scope with only 13 seven year old students taking part, from a few Polish towns. Favorably, each drawing was accompanied by an individual interview with the child. It would be nice to see all the drawings, and not only two.
What is so interesting about this endeavor are the questions it investigates:
What meanings do seven-year-old children give to the term “artist”?
What distinguishing features, according to children, should an artist have?
How can the media influence the shaping of the meanings of children about the artist?
How can the aestheticization influence the shaping of the meanings of children about the artist?
Not many researchers have asked children how they see art and artists. It is surprising considering that we keep hearing the carelessly overused phrase “every child is an artist.” So, this article is a precious addition to the literature.
It turns out though that the authors seem less interested in seeing and hearing what the children have to show and say, than blaming educators for children’s narrow views on art. It is as if the participants were used, rather than engaged, as to make a point about the deplorable state of art education in their schools. The beret a boy drew on the head of a painter is received as stereotypical. So is the easel a girl provides the painter she drew. They tell us that “the poor visual art awareness of tutors is to blame, no knowledge of art, their own prejudices and limitations in its reception, their own negative educational experiences.”
The authors are on a mission when they say “the ultimate purpose of the research is to obtain knowledge which will allow effective changes in education, in this case, in art education.”
The article could have been written a century ago, so much it transpires the ever-lasting tension between teaching art techniques versus free expression, the classics versus the moderns and, artists as educators versus teachers as art educators. When it comes to liking or not their answers, it begs the question, who is asking the children?
Below, a drawing found in our collection. Made by Rishi, it depicts the various formal element of drawing. As a school assignment, I would assume that the authors cited in this blog would say this type of exercise contribute to transmitting a detrimental and narrow notion of art to children.
At the beginning of 2024, CDIC reached out to the McMaster University’s Office of Community Engagement (OCE), requesting support in researching some of the hypothetical factors related to the decision to contribute (or not) to CDIC’s collection. In no time, the OCE had a dynamic team put together under their Research Shop program.
The multidisciplinary team, led by Syed Mahamad, included Hamza Abouiznied, Mia Brufatto, Lily Li, and Lina Mabayyed undertook to identify motivations and barriers influencing the preservation of children’s artwork by families, and contributions to CDIC. Understanding these factors is crucial to increase CDIC’s ability to educate the public on the significance of children’s art and preserve it for future generations.
In total, 113 participants aged between 18 and 64 completed the online survey, and all Canadian provinces plus three territories were represented.
The team produced a report filled with never before documented insights on children’s art conservation as personal, family, or cultural heritage. Ninety (80%) of the survey participants reported that their parents saved their artwork when they were children, is but one such insight.
The study reveals that the main motivations for preserving children’s artwork within the home are:
Tracking the child’s artistic and personal development
Appreciating the artwork’s aesthetic value, and
Maintaining emotional connections to the pieces.
By far, the biggest barriers to preserving artwork in the home were a lack of space to physically store the artwork and time constraints.
Regarding contributing to the CDIC archive, the main motivating factors were:
The opportunity to share and celebrate the artwork with a broader audience,
The child desires to contribute to the archive, and
Receiving incentives, including crediting the child as the artist and/or small giveaways.
Factors that discouraged participants from contributing to the archive included:
A lack of knowledge about the CDIC and its mission,
Perceived logistical challenges with the artwork submission process, and
Reluctance within the family to part with the original artwork.
The research team included recommendations based on their findings. The new knowledge emerging from the study will help CDIC to review its communication tools, as well as its collection development strategies.
At this point, it seems that CDIC should simultaneously address the need of families that seek as much exposure as possible for their images, and the need of families that prefer a restrained access limited only for archival and research purposes.
Stay tuned to see how CDIC will adapt for better serve contributing families, and reach out to other collection users. For the great project partnership, CDIC would like to thank the research team, as well as Evan Gravely and the Office of Community Engagement, at McMaster University.
Reasons why participants were interested in contributing to the CDIC archive. Source: McMaster University, 2024.
Children’s Design International Collection (CDIC) wants to hear from dedicated individuals who will help the organization solidify its base and develop new strategies. Board volunteers commit to a two-year term on our working board of directors. Previous experience with a registered charity is preferred. Both member and officer positions are available:
Treasurer: A passion for budgeting, bookkeeping, risk assessment, reporting, and team work is required. The Treasurer oversees the implementation and review of the Financial Management Policy. The Treasurer chairs the Fundraising Committee. The organization has relied on steady donations, has initiated its corporate sponsorship program, and has yet to receive foundation grants.
Secretary: A passion for record keeping, policy review, contract monitoring, and team work is required. The Secretary oversees the recording of meeting proceedings, as well as the organization’s calendar and notices. The Secretary ensures that the organization’s decisions are reflecting its by-laws, policies and programs.
Director: A passion for education, the arts, the humanities, networking, and team work is required. Board members ensure the sustainable well-being and development of the organization. The board member may chair a standing committee.
The board meetings are held online, two to four times a year. Committee meetings are schedules as needed. The organization has cumulated project partnerships, and aims at long term program partnerships. CDIC is a member of Archivists Association of Ontario and Volunteer Canada. CDIC enjoys a strong presence on the web through the web site, social media and newsletter.
To apply: Use this online form or email resume, with optional LinkedIn link, to info@cdic-cide.org with Board Member in the subject line, by November 15th 2024. Take a step forward with us!
From Godzilla to Barney, and all the Jurassic Park sequels in between, it is safe to say that almost every kid has drawn a dinosaur or two at some point.
The bones of real dinosaurs are preserved and displayed all over the world. They help us understand and admire their bygone animal supremacy.
Did you know that specialists also care for their feces? Yes, dinosaur poop has its own museum! Well, actually a museum for feces that have mineralized, and turned into coprolites.
The Poozeum was first launched as an online resource in 2014, by its founder George Frandsen. Ten years later, it recently opened its physical gallery and storefront in Williams, Arizona, not far from the Grand Canyon. Poozeum holds the largest of such collections, with about 8,000 coprolites. It holds a Guinness World Record for it, and also for holding the largest coprolite (67,5 cm x 15,7 cm) ever found, which George Frandsen says likely comes from a T.rex.
Next time you draw a dinosaur, don’t you forget its coprolite. Who knows, maybe one day we will find out that the whole planet is but one humongous spinning orbiting coprolite, or a derivative thereof.
Founder George Frandsen strikes the pose at the Poozeum. Source: Poozeum, 2024.
About one hundred people of different generations came to appreciate inspiring art, made by the student of the University of Guelph Child Care and Learning Centre (CCLC). The art for Exploring Connection was on display all week and part of the school day for students. A ceremony was held on Thursday.
Eight rooms were filled with hundreds of images made in various media, each reflecting a specific theme. They were created by the children over the recent months. It is always great to see artworks where they were made. Several of the images are displayed on our dedicated web page and will available all summer. We were given the opportunity to present some of our collection items to visiting families.
It is full of admiration for the CCLC educators who so wonderfully accompanied their students and documented the process, under the guidance of Pedagogical Leader Kimberley Barton, that I presented their director, Valerie Trew, with a certificate of appreciation. Both partners of this exhibition project are grateful for the sponsorships and kind support from LINAMAR and GUELPHTODAY.com.
The CCLC was the perfect place and team to hold our first ever exhibition partnership. It is a place where children, their care givers, educators and researchers can learn from each other. Several families have expressed the intention to contribute to the collection. More to come about new items soon.
Valerie Trew (left) and Kimberley Barton receive CDIC certificate from Léo Beaulieu, 13 June 2024. Photo: Kim’s mom.
This year again, we add our voice to those of many dedicated people and institutions that care for archives around the world. This year’s theme is #CyberArchives.
The International Council on Archives has put together an impressive global agenda for the occasion, filled with a wide variety of events. One of them is our Exploring Connection project, coming to fruition on June 13th during a special ceremony, at the University of Guelph Child Care and Learning Centre.
This to say that the past still has a long and bright future ahead.
Building a collection such as CDIC’s often means bumping into difficult questions and hurdles. Children’s drawings have nearly all vanished for centuries, even millennia. There are basically two reasons for that. One is that there is little value attached to them, and by extension children, because of the temporary nature of childhood. Either they grow too fast, or we just cannot wait for them to grow up. The other reason is that even if great value is given to learning and art made by children, it is generally a personal value shared and enjoyed in private among family members, not with the community. It is for the family scrapbook only.
In our efforts to expand the conversation about preservation, we wonder what triggers some individuals and some parents to hang on to those fragile objects. We also ask ourselves, is there a best time for families to contribute items to the collection? It is hard to say. The best time is probably when both the parent and the child agree to let the original image leave home. That is in the case of a young child. If the child has become an adult and has childhood art, likely preserved by a parent, this person may have lost interest in the image, or may want to honor the parent who kept it safe.
When a family keeps child art pieces for a long time, it looks like a positive sign for their preservation. It likely means that the initial impulse sprung from a strong bond between the child and the parent. It could however turn out to be the opposite, and the longer a family keeps the art, the more endangered it becomes. This is because like any other relationships, family bonds can fluctuate over time.
Adult children sometime grow apart from their parents or their siblings. When this happens, physical objects that they shared in the past come to take different meanings. The value and meaning of any art from childhood change, and may become dispensable. Family estrangement, when it happens, can put conservation of children’s art at risk.
The decision to preserve or not children’s art is and will remain in the hands of individuals and parents. Our participatory approach to collection development aims to add a collective or community layer to the equation. Our hope is that this will stimulate dialogue between generations, and cultural awareness.
Family estrangement has been under the scrutiny of a small number of scholars over the past ten years. They inform us that several factors can bring family members to stop interacting with one another. Family members can keep their distances for various periods of time, from a few months, to years, or for life. They can sometime grow apart gradually, without even explicitly knowing why. A pioneer on the subject is Dr. Kylie Agllias, adjunct lecturer at the University of NewCastle, in Australia. Her book Family estrangement: A matter of perspective (Routledge, 2016) is a go to reference. Gerontologist Dr.Karl Pillemer of Cornell University also authored the book Fault lines: Fractured families and how to mend them (Penguin, 2022). His book has a significant portion on resilience and reconciliation. In 2015, the British organization Stand Alone conducted a groundbreaking survey. Over eight hundred people responded. Their findings were published in the report by psychologist Dr. Lucy Blake, of the Centre for Family Research at University of Cambridge: Hidden voices: Family estrangement in adulthood, and available online. It is most revealing of some aspects of modern life.
Will an April 1st come when pranks and their fools will go unnoticed? Maybe we have already reached this point.
In recent years, we have seen the proliferation of fake news, as well as reciprocal foreign interference through social media. Add to this the several armed conflicts across the globe, of which many say the first victim is truth itself.
We thought we would make things real this year, by sharing our April Fools image with you. The pencil drawing was made in Quebec, during World War II. It is a long standing French tradition to stick a small fish on the back of an unsuspecting victim on April 1st. Interestingly, it was not preserved by the young girl who made it, nor by her mother, but rather by her older sister. It is now part of Lisette Tremblay’s fonds in our collection.
April Fool. By Bérangère Tremlay, c1944. Source: CDIC-CIDE.
