Through the Rhodascope: How Rhoda Kellogg Taught the World to Leave Teaching to the Children

Rhoda Kellogg (1898–1987) was an early childhood scholar, educator, author, and activist who was in a near-continual state of processing child art for six decades, most significantly as the designer and director of the Phoebe A. Hearst Preschool, which still operates in San Francisco. In this illustrated lecture, artist, curator, and archivist Brian Belott and early childhood educator Jennifer DiGioia reflect on Kellogg's pioneering research in early visual learning, with a focus on the significance of scribbles and finger paintings. Currently on view in the City Hall galleries, RHODASCOPE brings together nearly 200 such works from the Rhoda Kellogg International Child Art Collection, alongside Belott’s own child art “forgery” paintings and several of Kellogg’s original artworks, produced during her final years and never before seen in San Francisco. The exhibition marks a homecoming for the visionary Bay Area figure and her extraordinarily vast, yet profoundly singular collection.

Brian Belott is an artist, curator, performer, and publisher based in Brooklyn, NY. He is the lead archivist of the Rhoda Kellogg International Child Art Collection and a lifelong collector of child art. His work was recently featured in the 2019 Whitney Biennial. 

Jennifer DiGioia is in her thirtieth year as an early childhood educator and advocate. She taught at Phoebe A. Hearst Preschool Learning Center, founded by Rhoda Kellogg, for over a decade. She considers Kellogg’s work to be both the foundation and continual inspiration of her teaching practices.