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Selection of Arbroath Templates from Art for All exhibition - arbroathtemplate.tumblr.com
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Anyone who keeps an eye on what's going down at Yorkshire Sculpture Park will know that Poppies: Wave has been a massive draw over the winter months - around 300,000 visitors in a four-month period, to be roughly precise. How many, I wonder, took the chance to sneak away from the hordes and catch Art for All, tucked away in the snug Garden Gallery and also ending earlier this month? Probably only a small proportion, given the very different appeal of the two shows. Those who did got a real treat, and those who didn't had a lamentable missed opportunity (IMHO).
Art for All was commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the National Arts Education Archive (NAEA), housed at YSP and documenting over 100 years of art education. Bob and Roberta Smith - artist, arts education campaigner, founding member of the Art Party and Surrey Heath election candidate - was invited to nosey through the Archive and create the installation in response to some of what he found. What treasures are buried there! And what an education in itself, having the chance to dig around in them. I'd have loved that job (although having neither the skill nor the imagination to translate seemingly dry historical facts into witty, trenchant and visually tantalising exhibits in the way that Bob and Roberta Smith does, I concede that the curatorial staff probably picked the right guy).
I didn't get the job, but I do want to take a moment to express appreciation. The fact that the Archive exists as a fantastic learning resource deserves a shout-out in itself; and the gems I gleaned from a couple of wanders around the small-but-perfectly-formed installation have been precious little nuggets of inspiration and reminder. We all know (at least I hope we do) that art education in Britain is currently being brutalised at the hands of the politicians. Those of us who feel strongly that this is A VERY BAD THING find opportunities where we can to condemn and protest - no-one more eloquently and visibly than Bob and Roberta Smith himself. But how many of us do so simply because we believe that access to art education is essential for a good all-round education and for the production of fully-rounded people? Or perhaps also because we understand - to paraphrase Bob and Roberta - the importance of the arts for democracy and humanity? Do we also protest because we're acutely conscious of the history that lies behind the art education we have come to take so much for granted (until lately, at least), and because we're adamant that all that enlightened pioneering must not go to waste? Are we remembering, when we raise our protesting voices, of such visionary artists and progressive educationalists as William Morris, Franz Cizek, Marion Richardson, Herbert Read, William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore, Tom Hudson, Alec Clegg...? Are we thinking of the rights that eminent figures such as these argued so passionately on behalf of; of the radical steps they took; the enlightened new measures they advocated for; the transformational influences they had...? I certainly haven't been (shameful really, for someone who's been putting artists into schools for 20+ years), but I will be from now on.
If you're interested in art education and - like me - are a committed supporter of the principles but haven't bothered much with immersing yourself in the history, why not make some time to do so? It's eye-opening stuff, and quite salutary to realise that the values driving Bob and Roberta Smith's recent Art Makes Children Powerful campaign (for example) trace way, way back: through Clegg's seminal tenure as Chief Education Officer for the West Riding; through Richardson's child-centred art teaching methods and Cizek's Child Art Movement in the early 1900's; back to Morris's Art Education for All and Herbert Spencer's philosophical writings in the late 1800's; back further still to Joshua Reynolds...
Art for All also invited visitors to contribute their thoughts about 'what needs to be included in an Art Education to give each child a voice in the 21st Century'. It would be fascinating to see the results. I reckon they should be parcelled up with a big red ribbon and sent to Gove, Morgan, Gibb and co. I reckon, too, that there's the makings of a really useful book/resource in some of the oft-forgotten stories that have made art education commonplace (albeit endangered) today, starting with the ones so cleverly illuminated by the Art for All show - a book that ought to be obligatory reading for all trainee teachers and every teacher who teaches art (no, make that every teacher in general). A project for YSP/the NAEA maybe? Now there's a job I'd fancy.
Art for All was commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the National Arts Education Archive (NAEA), housed at YSP and documenting over 100 years of art education. Bob and Roberta Smith - artist, arts education campaigner, founding member of the Art Party and Surrey Heath election candidate - was invited to nosey through the Archive and create the installation in response to some of what he found. What treasures are buried there! And what an education in itself, having the chance to dig around in them. I'd have loved that job (although having neither the skill nor the imagination to translate seemingly dry historical facts into witty, trenchant and visually tantalising exhibits in the way that Bob and Roberta Smith does, I concede that the curatorial staff probably picked the right guy).
I didn't get the job, but I do want to take a moment to express appreciation. The fact that the Archive exists as a fantastic learning resource deserves a shout-out in itself; and the gems I gleaned from a couple of wanders around the small-but-perfectly-formed installation have been precious little nuggets of inspiration and reminder. We all know (at least I hope we do) that art education in Britain is currently being brutalised at the hands of the politicians. Those of us who feel strongly that this is A VERY BAD THING find opportunities where we can to condemn and protest - no-one more eloquently and visibly than Bob and Roberta Smith himself. But how many of us do so simply because we believe that access to art education is essential for a good all-round education and for the production of fully-rounded people? Or perhaps also because we understand - to paraphrase Bob and Roberta - the importance of the arts for democracy and humanity? Do we also protest because we're acutely conscious of the history that lies behind the art education we have come to take so much for granted (until lately, at least), and because we're adamant that all that enlightened pioneering must not go to waste? Are we remembering, when we raise our protesting voices, of such visionary artists and progressive educationalists as William Morris, Franz Cizek, Marion Richardson, Herbert Read, William Coldstream, Victor Pasmore, Tom Hudson, Alec Clegg...? Are we thinking of the rights that eminent figures such as these argued so passionately on behalf of; of the radical steps they took; the enlightened new measures they advocated for; the transformational influences they had...? I certainly haven't been (shameful really, for someone who's been putting artists into schools for 20+ years), but I will be from now on.
If you're interested in art education and - like me - are a committed supporter of the principles but haven't bothered much with immersing yourself in the history, why not make some time to do so? It's eye-opening stuff, and quite salutary to realise that the values driving Bob and Roberta Smith's recent Art Makes Children Powerful campaign (for example) trace way, way back: through Clegg's seminal tenure as Chief Education Officer for the West Riding; through Richardson's child-centred art teaching methods and Cizek's Child Art Movement in the early 1900's; back to Morris's Art Education for All and Herbert Spencer's philosophical writings in the late 1800's; back further still to Joshua Reynolds...
Art for All also invited visitors to contribute their thoughts about 'what needs to be included in an Art Education to give each child a voice in the 21st Century'. It would be fascinating to see the results. I reckon they should be parcelled up with a big red ribbon and sent to Gove, Morgan, Gibb and co. I reckon, too, that there's the makings of a really useful book/resource in some of the oft-forgotten stories that have made art education commonplace (albeit endangered) today, starting with the ones so cleverly illuminated by the Art for All show - a book that ought to be obligatory reading for all trainee teachers and every teacher who teaches art (no, make that every teacher in general). A project for YSP/the NAEA maybe? Now there's a job I'd fancy.
“....no matter how daubed and glaring the colours. The question is not whether the child is producing good drawings. The question is whether it is developing its faculties”
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
