Importance of Art

On Words

Importance of Art

By ANDREW GREENE

Jakarta – When school budgets are cut, art is often the first class to go.

The groupthink seems to be that studying art is fine as long as time and other resources allow. Otherwise, it is treated as if it were a disposable subject; something that is at its heart little more than an entertainment that can be guiltlessly thrown away.

True, most students do not grow up to be professional artists. But then again most do not become mathematicians, authors or scientists either. However, since we understand how the macro skills taught through math, language and science instruction spread into all areas of our lives, those later subjects remain untouchable.

What we fail to keep in mind is that when we study art we discover new ways of looking. Art opens our eyes. Without fresh perspectives there will be few new ideas in math, science, literature, business or life. A background in art gives us the ability to see the world from different angles. This is a skill that colors all that we do.

One of the best ways parents can foster their children’s natural love of art is to introduce them to museums and clubs that stimulate their interests. In Jakarta, we are fortunate to live in close proximity to all sorts of galleries, art clubs and art schools. One such club, profiled in the last OnWords, Jakarta Art Teachers and I, offers art workshops. I was fortunate to be able to discuss one of these workshops with the participants of a recent gathering.

Consisting of a variety of workshops and instructed by 15 art teachers, the workshop gave students the opportunity to learn from new friends. Teacher Judi Harwin says that although the students started off a little shy they were eager to learn new skills and "were extremely motivated by working alongside students from different schools."

Participant eleventh-grader Satoshi agrees saying, “It’s a good idea to have this kind of event, because we were able to learn lots of art techniques from different teachers and share our knowledge of art with other students.”

Tuktik, another eleventh-grader, was also pleased with her experience. "I’ve learnt new things,” she recalls, “gained new skills, experienced new styles of teaching. It seems to me the world is wider.”

Art workshops provide students safe places from which to address difficult subjects. Satoshi is especially proud of his work on racism saying, "I did nine paintings of students' faces. It was a bit hard, but it was fun as well… I used black, white and gray for the painting on canvas in a black frame. The idea is to show that if you take the color out people, we are all the same."

An additional beaming participant, tenth-grade student Hana, says about her project, "I wanted to focus on an Indonesian concern. I picked the Bird of Paradise because the bird is only found in Indonesia. I wanted to make the style of my art unique by using spices as a painting material. Spices symbolize Indonesia. The colors of spices are limited and I struggled hard to find a perfect match for the plumage of the bird. This project has been a real challenge for me as I had never drawn with spices before, and I had to do lots of trial before the final piece."

Learning from others is one the keys to the success of these workshops. Simon Mortimer, the leader of the workshop's etching work station, says, "The focus was on giving students from different schools the same collective artistic experience, but more importantly, to allow them to have fun experimenting with different media and techniques."

Harwin agrees adding that she believes that both teachers and students got the chance to grow. She says, "There is a great diversity of international and national teachers, different ages, yet with a common focus… We all have our own individual strengths and weaknesses, so we pick up lots of helpful advice.”

For further information about joining an art club or school contact JATI at jati_contact@yahoo.com, Mitra Rahardi Prana Art School at 719-4715 or Kelas Melukis Yudacitra Art Classes at 719-1042.

Until next column,

Happy Creating,

AG

This article was originally published Nov. 11, 2007 in The Jakarta Post.

Jakarta Art Teachers & I

On Words

Jakarta Art Teachers & I

By ANDREW GREENE

Jakarta – Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Each day, art teacher Neil Bunting works at solving this problem with his dedication in his international school’s classroom and through the organization he founded, Jakarta Art Teachers & I.

Formed two years ago this November, JATI was, like much in the art world, crafted out of a sense of anxiety and loneliness.

Bunting, who has lived in Jakarta since 2002, recalls in a written interview, “I first thought of an arts organization in 2004. I felt as an art teacher, and an artist, I was living in a state of cultural disconnectedness and desperately needed to forge links with other schools, teachers and people connected with the arts.”

JATI’s inaugural meeting in 2005 was attended by five international-school art teachers. These initial members were enthused by JATI’s dream and spread its message and now around 20 members from thirteen schools take part in each meeting.

In addition to the monthly meetings the members are in near daily contact with one another in order to bounce ideas around and share practical information about such things as exhibitions of interest and where to buy art equipment. “The organization has made significant progress during the last two years,” says Bunting.

Open to all Indonesian schools, JATI promotes the values of expression, individuality, and creativity. Bunting explains that the organization “encourages collaboration and sharing of expertise between art educators, facilitators and anybody who cares passionately about the visual arts” by developing and promoting art through exhibitions, workshops and all kinds of artistic relationships between students and teachers.

Bunting says that it is key to JATI’s vision that local, national and international schools are involved, “This is imperative. The organization is not simply an international school organization. Many of our schools use the International Baccalaureate curriculum. To apply the philosophies of IB we must involve Indonesian schools. This is not just about paying lip service to a school curriculum. This about doing what is right—walking the walk.”

“We,” Bunting continues, “are still striving to involve Indonesian schools and the local community more. We want Indonesian art teachers to take a more active role and we are seeking to not make them feel alienated in any way by producing our minutes and agendas and statements in Bahasa and English.”

Past workshops have featured stations teaching a variety of techniques from book-binding to chocolate moulds and transcriptions in mixed media to printmaking and watercolor painting.

Both students and teachers are encouraged to stretch, to grow at JATI workshops. The students experience new techniques and ideas while the teachers are able practice team-teaching methods and observe their peers at work.

JATI continually strives to create and maintain mutually supportive working environments. Bunting believes its members understand that in order to be creative, the fear of mistakes must be abolished.

Bunting says, “Workshops are particularly beneficial for students from less well resourced schools, who, for example, have never had the opportunity to use a printing press or be involved in photographic processes.”

The new year should be fruitful for the club. Bunting and JATI colleague Dave White are hard at work securing a location for JATI’s next exhibition. Showcasing the work of students of all ages from the organization’s 13 schools, Bunting promises the show will be "huge."

This next exhibition is just a step. Bunting says, “"JATI will go from strength to strength. There will be more exhibitions, workshops and opportunities for the art community.”

For further information about JATI, visit its website at http://www.neilbunting.com/JATIWEB.html, email the organization at jati_contact@yahoo.com or telephone Neil Bunting at +62 813 10921265.

This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post.

Doctor H. Arief Rachman on Education: Part One

On Words

Doctor H. Arief Rachman – part one

By ANDREW GREENE

Tuesday, 17 June, 2007, 8:17 PM Local Time

JAKARTA – Deep into his fifth decade of educating, Doctor H. Arief Rachman has no plans of slowing down.

In fact, with his recent appointment to Diponegoro junior, high, and vocational schools adding to his work as a Universitas Negeri Jakarta (State University of Jakarta) lecturer along with his duties as the Executive Chairman of the Indonesia National Commission of UNESCO, his frankness is clear as he claims the word retirement holds scant desirability for him.

He says, “I do not understand the meaning. Perhaps there is status in the word. For me, I think I will be busier in my old days, because at that age it isn’t just about implementation, but about inspiration.”

Sleep, at times, does not find the grandfather of three easily. Thirty-six of his high school senior students had recently failed their national examinations and he says, “I couldn’t anticipate whether I’d have the courage or not to face them. I knew it was to be hard and it kept me awake at night.”

However, meet them he did, saying, “I am trying to build a system that teaches honesty is most important. When you fail, you fail.”

This commitment to integrity is important to the man. Before he joined Diponegoro half a year back, he declared “if I am wanted in this school, honesty is on top of everything. True, the final exam results are sad and quite low but… you’ve got to perform according to what you are and failing is OK.”

Rachman believes dishonesty is rampant in lower-income schools with tests being marked up and reports falsified. He does not understand how the schools can have 99% or 100% final examination pass rates.

“Corruption in education is largely uncontrolled,” he says, “lots of teachers enjoy doing wrong practices. We’ve got to keep echoing to everybody that this is wrong. I’d like to call on my fellow teachers to be honest. Do not make up scores or reports.”

The educator feels that it is the final examinations that breed problems and dishonesty. “We need to go back to the essential and ask what we are evaluating. Marks, final exams or students progress over the years? A student’s continuous evaluation should be considered as a basic criterion of passing. So no national government rules should be the only criteria for passing.”

Explaining, Rachman continues, “In Banda Aceh, 32 teachers were killed in the tsunami and entire schools destroyed. The students were living in tents and suddenly it was demanded that they meet the same criteria as those in Block M. This is very illogical.”

The youthful-looking, eternally-smiling lecturer is a realist and understands the need for examinations. He says he knows there is a need for student evaluation, but believes the examinations “are causing people to worry, and does not make them aware. Our education is fonder of competition with ranking, putting people in blocks, not together as one.”

He warns, “Unless the government gives realistic criteria for passing grades, people will try to find shortcuts instead of being true; people will try to be safe. This principal has got to be abolished. I’d like to change it by giving guidelines to schools and then letting the teachers and headmasters decide who’ll pass and then demand all teachers and headmasters are honest.”

Rachman believes that this desire to be safe at the expense of being true “comes from the discrepancy between the haves and have nots, [from] the big gorge growing between the clever and the slow learners. I am afraid,” he says, “the clever and the rich will have better facilities and will go up and up while the slow and poor will sink down and down, although our constitution and our laws of education do not agree with this.”

“Our philosophy in Indonesia,” he elaborates further, “Unity in Diversity, is an excellent philosophy and we should go in that direction. We should be more consistent with what’s in our constitution. It is said we’ve got to believe in God, humanity, nationalism, social justice, democracy and being humane. [But] How can you be humane if you are cornered by a situation in which you are forced to steal and to lie? I think education should come into that area and teach that no matter how poor you are, you have no justification to steal, to lie. You must be strong no matter what you face.”

Rachman says he was drawn to Diponegoro for the opportunity to assist those that face such dilemmas. He says that 75% of his students come from poor families, the children of our maids, guards, laundresses, walking food hawkers.

“It attracted me,” he says, “because the students come from the lower financial classes and I’ve discovered that although intellectual input is not very high, financial input is not very high and the salaries of our teachers average just five to six hundred thousand rupiah a month, the schools have about 3,000 students in total.”

“I am also attracted to the schools because the students are so enthusiastic to go to school, although I do not think many of them have healthy support at home. They’ve got to fight for their lives.”

He leans back, pushes his fingers through his full-head of salted hair and remembers, “I asked one student why he wasn’t wearing a belt and he replied, ‘This is Tuesday. It’s my father’s day to wear the belt.’” During the interview the professor shares similar one-belt family stories about shoes and study materials.

“I do not feel we have addressed them well and I do not think we have paid enough attention to these kinds of schools. I imagine these types dominate all schools in Indonesia.”

He is proud of Diponegoro’s progress thus far. “When our students finish they have strong confidence to face all our challenges.”

The good doctor was gracious enough to invite me into his Rawamangun home for more than an hour as he readily shared his thoughts. On Words next installment will continue the interview, with the professor’s words about building a progressive school culture, the role of indigenous and foreign languages in Indonesia, his decade as a English quiz show host on television, and the two times he was imprisoned.

This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post.