news
The Nordic Watercolour Museum releases new anthology on knowledge-building encounters through Alfie Atkins
- Updated
If we take that conventional way of looking at children, it’s like: “oh, now they’re really going to get it – there will be adventure and strange planets and scary robots and dangers, and then it will all turn out well in the end.” A conventional creator takes it for granted that things should end well... but I don’t have happy endings in my stories, I don’t want that – because I can’t promise that everything will be fine. It’s just a small pause until the next catastrophe happens… and then I think that adults who produce a lot of action – well, I’m sure there’s a need for that too, I don’t deny it – but there can also be a lot of drama in something as small as not having a friend… being alone, walking alone down the street, and there’s no one who agrees with me… Or having hit someone – he did hit a younger kid on the football field – and feeling guilty about it… that’s a big drama in a child’s world.
– Gunilla Bergström, quote from an interview with Kristian Berglund, The Nordic Watercolour Museum
Since 2016, The Nordic Watercolour Museum in Skärhamn has served as the center of the network SAKS (Studies in Artistic Vision). The network brings together art educators and researchers from across the Nordic countries. In 2017, it published the anthology Artistic Vision and What Children Can Learn at the Museum. This follow-up volume contains texts inspired by the museum’s 2022 exhibition Gunilla Bergström / Here is Here is Alfie Atkins! Taking their starting point in Gunilla Bergström’s visual world, the authors have engaged in dialogue with both young and adult readers of the Alfie books, children who visited the exhibition, preschools working with Alfie projects, and research colleagues around the world who have a connection to Alfie Atkins. The authors have also closely read the Alfie books with a focus on time, encounters, and imagination. The anthology aims to inspire preschool teachers, art educators, and other interested adults in exploring how the picture book can open pathways for art in children’s lives.
The book is available for free as a PDF (in Swedish). Click here
Authors:
TARJA KARLSSON HÄIKIÖ – Professor of Visual and Material Culture at HDK-Valand, Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg.
MARIE BENDROTH KARLSSON – PhD in Child Studies, BA in Art History, and Senior Lecturer at the University of Borås.
PERNILLA LAGERLÖF – Senior Lecturer at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg.
CECILIA WALLERSTEDT – Professor of Education at the Academy of Music and Drama, Faculty of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts, University of Gothenburg.
NIKLAS PRAMLING – Professor of Education at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg.
INGRID PRAMLING SAMUELSSON – Professor of Early Childhood Education at the Department of Education, Communication and Learning, University of Gothenburg.
KRISTIAN BERGLUND – Artist and media producer at The Nordic Watercolour Museum.
JONTE NYNÄS – Art educator and educational leader at The Nordic Watercolour Museum.
ANNA BERGLUND – Fundraiser and project manager at The Nordic Watercolour Museum, writer, and photographer.
With support from the Nordic Culture Fund.