ART TUITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23369, 8 December 1937, Page 5

ART TUITION

\ " NEW EDUCATION " SYSTEM; ■ > iuNEDIN SCHOOL'S EXHIBITION ; The various stages in the develop-:, ment of artistic tendencies in the child, the encouragement of selfexpression along the lines of painting, modelling, and handcraft, and the value of training in commercial art, are clearly demonstrated m the exhibition of work which opened in the Dunedin School of Art yesterday. Embracing a wide variety of artistic and practical effort, the exhibition is one which, should prove of great interest to the public and art students alike, for in each of the several sections of • the exhibition there is much that indicates the value of expert guidance which yet allows the development of individual ideas and expression. In the junior classes, which consist of prim arv school children who voluntarily undertake the classes after their school hours, the. students are instructed on the lines and methods of the "New Education system. This embodies group work, in which two or more of the students combine to compose a picture on any subject, the creation of mental pictures inspired by items of music —the various compositions on The Volga Boatman" are graphic instances of the possibilities of this form of instruction—and the reproduction from memory of scenes or incidents, which provides for a wide variety of individual expression. Some of the work in this particular section gives evidence of the strong impressions created in the child mind by incidents and scenes, and also shows conclusively the mental outlook towards persons and inanimate things. In the preparatory section, the work of the students of the Dunedin Technical High School is a further indication of the working of the " New Education " system. All the students have been tested and placed in their various learning groups, the three main types of which are visual, sound, and locomotion, and from these types, plays, sketches, mural paintings, etc., are produced. A demonstration of this type of work will be given each night in Burt Hall bv the students. The students of the Art School have a section devoted to pottery and piaster work which contains many interesting exhibits Various types of figures and heads and a profusion of articles of pottery both plain and glazed, indicate a commendably high degree of competence on the part of the students The senior art classes are represented bv a large number of artistic designs for fabrics, many of them reaching an exceptionally high standfVl in composition and colouring. The life drawing section with exhibits in pencil, chalk and crayon, with one or two wash drawings, is a good representation of this field of art, as also is the section dealing with nainting and etching in which it is immediately apparent that no definite stvle is taught but that the students are allowed to develop thpir own individual technique The commercial art section contains several striking exhibitions of poster and ticket-writing work, and in the crafts section,- fabric printing, carried out with dyes made by the students, weaving on miniature looms, and various types of leather work, constitute tHp «v PP f Pr rwrt of the display The exhibition will be open again to-day and to-morrow, both afternoon and evening.