Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM Children's Art Archive

Children Have Rights

The project Children Have Rights was undertaken in 1997 in collaboration with four Brisbane schools. In workshops led by teachers and artists, children talked about their human rights, and then created images to showcase the rights of children. The exhibition of fifty images was hung in conjunction with the first Australasian conference on Children's Rights, held in Brisbane at Queensland University of Technology in April 1997. 

Children Have Rights toured to twelve locations in regional Queensland with the support of the Queensland Arts Council.  Work from the collection was published in the Australian Government’s Joint Standing Committee on Treaties report in 1998. An exhibition of the collection was held at State Library of Queensland in 2013 in collaboration with the Children’s Commission of Queensland, and a reunion was held to reconnect with former child artists and their teachers.

Works of art from this collection are held in Box 14914 O/S

Together Under One Sun

The Australia-China Children’s Art Exchange involved more than 200 young children from Queensland (Australia) and Hubei (China) in an interchange of drawings, paintings and craft work on the theme of their lives now and into the future. The exhibition from the project was named Together Under One Sun and was opened at the Hubei Gallery of Art in 1995.

The Toowoomba Regional Gallery hosted the Australian opening of the children’s art exchange, and later the exhibition was featured in the 1996 Out of the Box Festival at the Queensland Museum. Seminars were held in both countries to discuss art education for young children. The Queensland Arts Council hosted a Queensland wide tour. A small version of the exhibition toured to Redcliffe Entertainment Centre (Qld), and to the Awesome Festival in Perth (WA). The project was coordinated by Dr Piscitelli and her Chinese counterpart, Professor Zhichao Chen. The Australia - China Children's Art Exchange and Exhibition Project attracted considerable attention from academics, educators, artists, families and children in China and Australia.

Documentation including photographs, slides and videos relating to this series forms part of Series 10: Documentation. 

Our World

The Australia - Vietnam Children's Art Exchange and Exhibition Project incorporates 225 pieces of art depicting young children's views of their world. Both the Vietnamese and Australian children’s work was collected from urban, rural and remote locations and includes the work of both mainstream and Indigenous children.

The project was supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as a cultural diplomacy initiative between nations during the period of doi moi.  The exhibition opened in 1993 at the Vietnam Museum of Fine Art in Hanoi.  The Australian opening was at the Brisbane City Hall Art Gallery in 1994, with a regional Queensland tour hosted by the Queensland Arts Council and small exhibitions at the Out of the Box Festival (Queensland Performing Arts Centre), the Museum of Childhood (Perth – Edith Cowan University).  Our World travelled to The Centre for the Study of Young People’s Art (University of Montreal, Canada) and the Francis Colburn Gallery (University of Vermont, USA) in 1995 and 1996.

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) selected images from the exhibition for the 1994 calendar and Christmas greeting card.

The series consists of Vietnamese project memorabilia (including didactic laminated panels (in Vietnamese & English); loose slides; QUT project signage (Boxes 15102 O/S, 15130 O/S).

Other documentation, including photographs, slides and videos relating to this series forms part of Series 10: Documentation. 

All Families Great and Small

During the International Year of the Family (1994), a small exhibition of children’s views of family life was held at the Queensland University of Technology (Kelvin Grove) Library.

The artworks and documentation for this series are found in Box 15103 O/S.

A Stroke of Genius

A Stroke of Genius was developed and exhibited as the first of the exhibitions from the collection. The exhibition featured work by children across Australia collected from 1982-1991, including work by Eric Stonehouse (Darwin), Lockhart River State School, West End State School and various kindergartens in the Brisbane region.  

Featured as part of Brisbane’s Warana Festival, the exhibition was in the foyer of Brisbane City Hall in 1991.  Later, the exhibition went on tour throughout regional Queensland with the Queensland Arts Council, and was featured as part of official celebrations for Under Eights Week in Brisbane.

Documentation, including photographs relating to this collection forms part of Series 10: Documentation. 

The works of art are housed in Box 15116 O/S

Spatters and Lines: Young Children's Art

Spatters and Lines was developed in 1991 to be exhibited as part of the Australian Early Childhood Association national conference in Adelaide. Featuring works of art by children from Darwin, Lockhart River and Brisbane, the show was hosted by the Adelaide Festival Centre.

Documentation, including photographs relating to this collection forms part of Series 10: Documentation.

The works of art are housed in Box 15117 O/S

Play: Young Children's Views

Play was an exhibition of Australian and Vietnamese children's views of play. The exhibition was held at Queensland Art Gallery (2001-2002) and Hopevale Arts and Culture Centre (2002).

The Australian works were collected from children in the Brisbane area, including children from diverse social and economic backgrounds.  The Vietnamese children’s works were collected from nine programs in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The project was supported by the Australian Academy of Social Sciences & the Australian Academy of Humanities in collaboration with the Vietnam National Centre for Social Sciences and Humanities.  Suzan Vujanovic, a higher degree student from Queensland University of Technology, completed a Master of Education (Research) on the Vietnamese children’s work; her thesis may be viewed (http://eprints.qut.edu.au/16157/1/Suzan_Vujanovic_Thesis.pdf).

Documentation, including photographs relating to this collection form part of Series 10: Documentation.

The works of art are housed in Box 15032 O/S (Vietnam) and Box 15104 O/S (Australia)

Children's Picture Diaries

Children’s Picture Diaries is a project with an innovative methodology designed to gather children’s pictures and stories about who they are, where they live and what they like to do.

Children (aged 5-12 years) participated in several workshops to paint self-portraits, draw and paint landscapes, make collagraph prints and write stories about their lives. Initially trialled at Erub (see Series 11), the project grew to involve children across Queensland communities, including Kelvin Grove, Ipswich, Poruma, Hopevale (See Series 13), and Cherbourg.

Exhibitions from the Children’s Picture Diaries series have been shown at Gallery 1601 at the Australian Embassy in Washington DC (2006) and the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (2010).

Works of art created as part of the project Children's Picture Diaries:

• 87 works created by children from Ipswich (Box 15108 O/S)
• 49 works created by children from Poruma (Box 15108 O/S)
• 44 works created by children from Cherbourg (Box 15118 O/S) 
• 70 works created by children from Kelvin Grove (Box 15118 O/S)

Some artworks have been mounted on card and are located in Map cabinet 4C-39-B5. 

Documentation, including photographs and stories relating to this collection forms part of Series 10: Documentation. 

Eric Stonehouse art works

Eric Stonehouse (born 1983) posted 433 drawings from his home in Darwin to Barbara Piscitelli from 1988-1999. The drawings were mainly created at home, with a small amount of material from his school life. The collection includes annotated information recorded by his mother, Anne Stonehouse. At the time, she was the President of the Australian Early Childhood Association.

Eric’s art work featured in exhibitions A Stroke of Genius (Series 5, held in Box 15116 O/S) and Spatters and Lines (Series 6, held in Box 15117 O/S). Further works were selected by the artist for inclusion in the State Library of Queensland exhibition 'Big Voices: Children's  Art Matters' (2020). 

Works of art from this series are held in Boxes 15106 O/S and 15107 O/S.

Documentation, including photographic slides forms part of Series 10: Documentation. 

This Series contains various formats of documentation relating to the entire Archive, as well as for most of the individual series:  

• Series 1:  Children have rights. Documentation and photographs are in: Boxes 14913, 15150 O/S (slides), 15153 O/S, 15154 O/S.
• Series 2:  Together under one sun. Photographs and documentation are in: Boxes 14913, 15029, 15110, 15137, 15031 O/S, 15149 O/S  (slides), 15153 O/S A3, 15154 O/S A3, 22733 O/S (video)
• Series 3:  Our World. Photographs and documentation are in Boxes 15021, 15029, 15137, 15031 O/S, 15148 O/S (slides), 15149 O/S (slides), 15153 O/S, 15154 O/S, 15155 O/S, 22733 O/S (videos)
• Series 4:  All Families Great and Small. Documentation in Box 15103 O/S.
• Series 5:  A Stroke of Genius. Photographs and documentation are in Boxes 15031 O/S, 15117 O/S, 15147 O/S (slides), 15148 O/S (slides), 15153 O/S A3, 15155 O/S,15029, 15030, 15137
• Series 6:  Spatters and Lines: Young Children's Art Exhibition: Photographs and documentation are in Boxes 15116 O/S, 15031 O/S, 15147 O/S (slides), 15153 O/S A3, 15155 O/S
• Series 7:  Play: young children's views. Photographs and documentation are in Box 15155 O/S
• Series 8:  Children’s Picture Diaries. Documentation, including photographs and stories are in Box 15110
• Series 9: Eric Stonehouse. Photographs and documentation are in Boxes 15147 O/S (slides) and 15148 O/S (slides)
• Series 11: Children’s Picture Diaries (Erub). The written component of the project is in Box 15152 O/S
• Series 12:  Share the Joy. Documentation is in Box 15137, Slides are in Box 15146 O/S (slides) and 15147 O/S (slides)

Children's Picture Diaries, Erub

Children from Erub (Darnely Island) participated in an innovative project to trial the Children’s Picture Diary methodology in 2005 at the Darnley Island State School. Fifty works of art were created, representing children’s ideas of who they are, where they live and what they like to do. The project was supported by school staff, Diann Lui (Principal) and Lynnette Griffiths (art teacher). There was also a written component.

The work from this project was exhibited at Gallery 1601, Australian Embassy to the United States of America in 2006, and later, some of the collection was exhibited at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (2010).

A chapter was written about the children and their art education:  Piscitelli, B., “Images of Childhood: By children, about culture and identity” in Robinson, G., Eickelkamp, U., Goodnow, J., & Katz, I. (Eds.) (2008). Contexts of child development: culture, policy and intervention. Darwin, N.T.: Charles Darwin University Press.

Artworks are in Box 15152 O/S and Map cabinet 4C-39-B5. 

The 'Writing' component by children from Erub also in Box 15152 O/S.

Share the Joy

Share the Joy was a three-month project carried out at the Queensland Art Gallery in 1987 to gather information on parents and preschool children as artists and art appreciators.

The collection contains information about the organisation and management of the project and includes parent diaries about their involvement and their children’s responses. An article was published in 1988:  Piscitelli, B. (1988). “Preschoolers and parents as artists and art appreciators”, Art Education, 41 (4), pp. 48-55.

Works of art are held in Box 15155 O/S

Documentation, including photographic slides forms part of Series 10: Documentation.  

Children's Picture Diaries, Hopevale

Children’s Picture Diaries is a project with an innovative methodology designed to gather children’s pictures and stories about who they are, where they live and what they like to do.

Children (aged 5-12 years) participated in several workshops to paint self-portraits, draw and paint landscapes, make collagraph prints and write stories about their lives. (See Series 8 and 11 for other communities involved in the Children’s Picture Diaries project.)

Children in Hopevale created their work with the support of community elders, the Indigenous Knowledge Centre and the Children’s Picture Diary team (Barbara Piscitelli and Clare McFadden).

Works of art are held in Box 15370 O/S A3

One Sun, One World – Many Dreams

One Sun, One World – Many Dreams (2016) was the second project of the Australia China Children’s Art Exchange.

The exhibition took place 21 years after the first children’s art exchange between Hubei and Queensland. More than 200 children from the two countries exchanged ideas about their place in the world. Hosted and supported in Australia by the State Library of Queensland and the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, and in Hubei by the Hubei Kindergarten Teachers College and Hubei Provincial Library, the cultural diplomacy project aimed to strengthen ties between children in the two countries. 

Children from 10 Queensland communities worked with artists to create their views of their lives in the 21st century, including children from urban, regional, rural and remote locations. Children from across Hubei province also participated in the project with the support of their kindergartens and families.

An exhibition was featured at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre as part of the Out of the Box Festival in 2016.

Works of art are held in Boxes 20256 O/S and 20258 O/S (works from Australia); and Boxes 20257 O/S and 20259 O/S (works from China).

Children's Rights

In 2013, the Children’s Rights Project, was carried out with children in three Brisbane area schools. Using the same methodology as Children Have Rights (Series 1), a team of artists, educators and policy makers visited schools to ask children about their views of their human rights.

The project was carried out as a collaboration of the children, their schools, the Children’s Commission and State Library of Queensland.

An exhibition of the resulting works 'Children's Voices' was held in 2013.

UNICEF Australia published images from the collection in their 2018 report on the status of Australian children (https://www.unicef.org.au/Upload/UNICEF/Media/Documents/Child-Rights-Taskforce-NGO-Coalition-Report-For-UNCRC-LR.pdf).

Works of art are held in Boxes 20273 O/S and 20274 O/S.

Pandemic Picture Stories

In May to August 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, young children in Hubei (China) and Queensland (Australia) were asked to create pictures and tell stories about how they saw their world in pandemic times.  The project aimed to enhance understanding and appreciation of children, their art and their ideas during an international health crisis.    
Children were asked to draw and paint about their lives during the pandemic  - about everyday life, their play life and their family life, as well as imagining the future after the pandemic.  Children wrote/dictated a short story to accompany their art work.
In Hubei, children were not attending kindergarten in person, but teachers across the province participated in the project.  Most of the work is from children in Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus.  Many of the children are from kindergartens and centres with high enrolments from families with medical backgrounds, and their art reflects a deep personal understanding of the behaviour of the virus and the risks to human beings.

In Queensland, children from four schools and kindergartens in the greater Brisbane area participated in the project following a statewide lockdown period.

The project was initiated by Dr Barbara Piscitelli in collaboration with Professor Zhichao Chen. Staff from State Library of Queensland supported the project.