The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1946. THE ELAM SCHOOL OF ART

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 90, Issue 117, 22 May 1946, Page 4

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1946. THE ELAM SCHOOL OF ART

MO more unprepossessing building exists in Auckland than the Flam School of Art. It has been described recently by a representative of the Auckland University Students’ Association as “little more than a vermin-ridden ruin.” The school is temporarily housed in a seventy-year-old building which lacks paint, its roof sags, the plaster is crumbling, the floors rotting and rats make their home undisturbed in the decayed structure. The building has been cut about and light wells installed: heating is inadequate, anti the students have no common room.

Commenting upon the condition of the building, the principal of the Elam Art School, Mr. A. J. C. Fisher, said that some of the rooms on the main floor had studs 17 feet high and floors as big as 30ft. by 31ft., “making them ideal for a school of art, which above, all else requires plenty,of space for the students to .work.” In this respect his life studio was as good as could be found at the Slade or the Royal College of Art, .London. He feared that if a new school were provided under present, conditions it would not have this most desirable feature. He realised that little could be done toward providing the art school with a decent home while men and materials were, so badly needed for houses.

The realistic attitude of Mr. Fisher in respect to an admitted need on the part of the school under his direction is refreshing. It will make the stronger his claim for a new school building when he does advance it, for it will be appreciated that the advocate can see more than the immediate needs of the institution which is his particular concern. In too many instances the desire to make do with the buildings available, to give them a new lease of life by reconditioning 1 hem, and of studying the cost of erection for new buildings are features of advocacy which are too frequently absent. There is competition for new buildings, which naturally has the support of those who are interestel in their erection, supported by the controllers of these institutions who look upon new structures as evidence of their particular ability and by public, men who are anxious to show that their influence has been fruitful of results. The sum total of these efforts all over the country is an enlarged and, to a degree unnecessary, expenditure on public buildings. This generates discontent, but the local reaction to dip in and get one’s share for the district cuts the ground from any opposition to this extravagant policy of buying public support by the spending or too lavish expenditure of public money. If others beside the principal of the Elam School of Art would preach economy in the matter of publie buildings it would be very helpful, and particularly so at Ihe present moment when the housing shortage remains acute.