Art and Frances Derham

Introduction

By Jane Sawyer (Art/Ceramics teacher and Alumni)

In a recent Newsdiary we had three separate offerings about Art at Preshil. Beginning with a piece written by Frances (Frankie) Derham, undated, but written sometime during the 1930′s when she was an art teacher at Preshil. Found by Work Party A in the Melbourne University archives, this historical piece illustrates an “awakening” of sorts where Frankie describes how her pre-conceived idea about art being a product to hang on a wall was challenged by a child who, for whatever reason, was not going to comply! It’s a beautiful story because Frankie’s self-reflection illustrates her extraordinary sensitivity and how adults must learn from and take our cue from children, to facilitate not to judge. It also tells us that art can be a process, a verb not a noun. This  “awakening” at Preshil underpinned Frankie’s future career as a significant international advocate for children’s art. She was an important contributor to the methodology of the provision of art experiences both at Preshil and to hundreds of student teachers at the Kindergarten Training College where she later taught for thirty years.

The second piece is an example of art in action at Preshil today. Written in children’s voices from the 8s/9s it illustrates Frankie’s view of art as a process rather than a product. As part of an integrated study with the 8s/9s project on “Special Places” the children were challenged to use materials found in their special places to experiment, build and create with. Scotland-based artist Andy Goldsworthy’s work was presented as a challenge for the children to become explorers and inventors. For some children this project developed over the subsequent weeks into a serious hut-building experiment and a sculpture installation from found objects. The idea of art being exploratory and open-ended is only starting to become well-recognised by today’s educationists yet illustrates Preshil’s long-held belief in the  “Play Way” of learning.

For those who wonder what VCE Art and VCE Studio Art are all about read Art coordinator Kay Hann’s article where she explains the differences. And for those who wonder how Preshil’s philosophy can fit into the structure of VCE Art/Studio Art, be comforted that the notion of exploration and discovery form a key role of developing a folio at VCE level.

Jane is based at Blackhall/Kalimna but also works at Arlington. She is also an ex-student of Preshil, current parent and an established ceramic artist.

Work Party A discoveries: Frances Derham

Work Party A wishes to regularly share some gems of wisdom that they have discovered from their research. The first is a quote from Frances (Frankie) Derham (1894-1987), an artist, educator, and teacher at Preshil from 1935 – 1938.  She went on to train many teachers at the Kindergarten Training College and was instrumental in developing a respect and acknowledgment for children’s art throughout the world. She was a life-long friend to both of the Margaret Lyttles, she exhibited Preshil children’s art internationally (including stage curtains from the 10s/11s), she developed a non-toxic recipe for finger paint that we still use today and many of our past teachers and some of our present teachers did professional development programs with her. She had an open enquiring mind and was especially tuned in to learning from children as this quote from the Frances Derham Papers in the Archives of Melbourne University illustrates:

“One of the things I learned with the very young was through one little boy who had seen a house being built, on his way to school. He did a very good drawing of a house which, when I asked ‘Is this finished? Can we put it on the wall?’ (as I did with all the drawings) he said, ‘No’ and put criss-cross lines on it saying, ‘that is the scaffolding’. So I said, ‘Now can I put it on the wall?’ ‘No’ he said, ‘the fire has come and it is burning the house up’. Since there still was some vestige of the house and scaffolding showing, I asked again, but the answer was ‘No’. The rain has come and put the fire out’, and he proceeded to cover the whole with black paint.

In the finally black painting there was the alliance of fact and fantasy. The child recorded the wonderful sight of a house being built, logically drawing first the house, then adding the scaffolding. But he then revealed his fear of destruction by fire, and happily resolved it with ‘The rain came down and put it out.’

The black mess was a lesson to me of the acceptance of a child’s expression of his thought. Of  not expecting a ‘good’ painting to be produced at the end of the period. Not all children express their thought (sic) verbally as did this one and unfortunately it is seldom that the adult is present and receptive throughout the action.

I kept this black painting for years because when I saw it I could still see in my mind’s eye just as the child could, the whole sequence of paintings. This happens with finger painting especially, but here, it was with bold brushes.”

What is Art?

As Jane mentions in her introduction, children in the 8s and 9s have been working with her and exploring the art work of Andy Goldsworthy. Andy is an environmental sculptor who uses the natural surroundings to create an art form. He explores and experiments with various natural material such as leaves, grasses, stones, wood, sand, clay, ice, and snow. Jane showed the children some of Andy Goldworthy’s art work and they were inspired to make our own creations.

What is ‘Studio Arts’?

Here, the focus is upon the student as art maker and aims to support the student to consider a sustainable art practice. Skills and techniques in a particular art form (eg., photography) are used to express ideas. Students write their own ‘exploration proposal’ as a framework for a design process in which they work towards producing a cohesive folio of works.

The study also requires students to research, identify, compare, analyse and evaluate how artists make artworks in addition to exploring and analysing the meaning in the presentation of artworks. Studio Arts also focuses on the production, presentation, promotion and marketing of artworks within the arts industry. In contrast to Art, written work makes up 30% of the total study score.

Our small classes and flexible program enable us to visit many exhibitions throughout the year. To date the students have visited ACCA to see Jenny Holzer’s confronting installation using government documents from Abu Graiv. This stimulated discussion about the role of the artist and the ways in which they communicate information (censorship is one such issue). Students have also visited ‘Re-view’ which presented an overview of the history of photography from the international collection of the National Gallery of Victoria. Both courses have been recently revised and will stay until 2014. If you have any queries regarding the VCE art program at Preshil please email me at kayh@www.preshil.vic.edu.au or for more detailed information about the curriculum, go to http:www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/studies/index.htm