ART AND THE ART OF LIVING

Press, Volume C, Issue 29504, 4 May 1961, Page 6

ART AND THE ART OF LIVING

Last week I visited a ? rimer class and saw what have seen so often—five and six-year olds proving that they were capable of making decisions; that they were imaginative; that they had an innate sense of colour, movement and design; that they were thoughtful towards their neighbours; that they were capable of undertaking an activity and becoming .completely absorbed in it until they had brought it to a conclusion satisfactory both to themselves and to their teacher. In short, they were proving that they were a group of well-adjusted small folk who had learnt to fit into the pattern of their school world. And what was this activity in which they were engaged* They were painting one of their favourite stories — "Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” The colours were bright and glowing and each picture was the original creation of the small artist. There were as many versions of the topic as there were children in the classroom. How were these varied results achieved?

First, by skilful stimulation —in this case the recapitulation by the class teacher of a much-loved fairy tale. Second, brushes, paint and paper were ready for the children to start work as soon as the story-telling was finished and the children were eager to begin. Third, and most important, was the security the children felt in the quiet, sympathetic attitude of their teacher. Here was someone who knew they could paint well; someone who would understand the symbols they used in their pictures; someone who knew they wouldn’t spill

paint or dab their brushes against a neighbour’s clothes. Unconsciously aware of all these factors, the children moved round the room to get their paint wiped their brushes carefully on the sides of their paint jars, and returned quietly to their places at desks or on the floor, all the time guarding their brushes from touching anything other than their pictures. Efficient organisation This quiet efficient organisation was not something that had been achieved by giving the children paint and paper and leaving them to their own devices—a sure recipe for spilt paint, spoiled pictures and a general attitude al dissatisfaction on the .part of both pupils and teachers. Instead it was the outcome of months of careful training by a teacher who was truly interested in children. It is this interest in children and the sympathetic understanding of their creations which is the key-stone of successful art and craft teaching. Art is only one subject in the curriculum of the busy teacher. But it can be one of the most rewarding. It is not an easy subject to teach. In truly creative art teaching there are no shortcuts, no rules of thumb, no stereotyped answers to the problems set. Instead there are as many answers as there are children and as many problems. Individual teaching Teaching must be individual and criticism should be constructive —e.g., Mary’s picture is rather empty although she says it is finished. Her teacher begins by admiring the colours she has used or the house she has painted, then asks what else she can put into the picture—what is growing in the garden? are there any pets? could the little girl have a pretty pattern on her dress? Mary starts painting with renewed vigour and teacher passes on to another child and another problem. Creative craft teaching starts with the five-year-old and here their imaginations are fired by having a wide variety of scrap material presented to them. At first they may only handle this material and “get the feel” of it. But that is an important stage and should not be hurried. Soon they are pasting paper, pinning or sewing scraps of fabric, nailing pieces of wood together and making constructions which give them great satisfaction in their achievements. As the children progress through the school, in both their two and three dimensional art work the problems set by the teacher become more difficult and require greater concentration, more time, and a greater degree of skill in the solving of them.

A variety of media is available for the use of the children but they should be encouraged to explore each medium to the full—not to expect a new "gimmick” each art lesson. Particularly in the upper school crafts should have some degree of permanency, calico may be block or screen-printed for class-room curtains; a group may embroider a wall-hanging designed for a particular area in the school; clay pots and models may be fired for use in the class-room or in the home; wire, wood, card-board and a host of other materials may be used to create interesting group or individual

models; while wood and stone carving create their own problems which both boys and girls are only too eager to try to solve. The final step in the creation of any piece of work is the display of it in some attractive manner. Not every piece of art work can be displayed on the class-room walls, but a suitable crosssection of the work not only encourages the children to greater efforts but its movement, life, originality and colour will brighten the walls and the outlook of both teacher and class. On the visitor to the school it creates an impact not achieved in any other way.

Illustrations were photographed at the Spreydon School, Christchurch, on an average working day.