Reviews: Editorial Journal of Art & Design Education

Vol 11, No 1, 1992

Before offering a brief overview of the books and videos selected for review, there are a few books which deserve mention because of the quality of their production. These are texts which are too specialised in one area to be of general interest to most readers.

The five books are essentially concerned with craft and/or design, or an individual working within one of these disciplines. Alan Caiger-Smith’s Lustre Pottery is published in its first paper- back edition by Herbert Press at k16.95. Caiger-Smith deals with the traditions, techniques and new ideas both in Islam and the West, while Frank Hamer writes on the science of lustre. The book is scholarly in its approach and well-illustrated. Another historical text is Thames and Hudson’s Textile Designs by Susan Meller and Joost Elffers. Its 464 pages cover an illustrated history of two hundred years of textile printing charting the changes introduced by the Industrial Revolution and its consequences. Its 1,823 colour illustrations are arranged by motif and pattern within five categories of Floral, Geometric, Conversational, Ethnic, and Art Movements and Period Styles. Each category is further div- ided into subcategories arranged in alphabetical rather than chronological order. It is an interesting and not quite successful idea-it is frustrating if you wish to make comparative notes across categories of work of the same period. It has brief introduc- tions in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Japanese. It is expensive at 445.00, and does not quite escape the ‘coffee table’ description, but it will probably delight those seeking source material in a variety of design and craft areas. Another book concerned with craft activities comes from the same publishing house. International Crafis edited by Martina Margetts at 632.00 illustrates in colour some of the best examples of contemporary craft work in ceramics, textiles, jewellery and metalwork, glass, baskets and wood, lettering and books, and furniture from North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan. Essentially it is a visual survey with commentary, but it is equally as valuable for its up- to-date information on biographies, craft organisations, museum collections, craft galleries, and publications. A third book from Thames and Hudson deals with the work of an important figure in contemporary Italian design and architecture. Vim Magistretti by Vanni Pasca is the first book to offer a full assessment of his work. The text includes a broad introduction, a full interview, a chrono- logy and list of designs, illustrations showing sketches and com- pleted pieces, plus a biography and bibliography. The book is well presented but is a little expensive at 622.50 for a 126 page paperback.

Books which place a frown on the average bookshop assistant’s brow tend to be those from abroad, and several are reviewed in

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Reviews this volume. They often take an inordinate delivery time, that is if you can persuade the bookseller to make an exception and order from a publishing house that is not on their computer. Publica- tions from the University of Illinois Press are frequent, invariably of good quality, and deserve to have a wider British readership. MohoZy-Nugy: A New Vision for Chicago by Lloyd Engelbrecht and Richard Kostelanetz is an exhibition catalogue consisting of an introduction to the artist, some memories of him, and two major articles by the authors, plus the catalogue of the exhibition and a bibliography. The work discussed ranges from 1937 to 1946 coinciding with his formation of the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937 and his writing of Vision in Motion in 1947. The catalogue contains many illustrations of work that are rarely seen, and coupled with the authoritative texts makes this a valuable addition to our understanding of an unusually wide-ranging artist/designer.

The detailed review section falls into two parts: one for books and one for resources, in this case videos. The book reviews deal with a wide scatter of subjects some practical, some theoretical, and some historical. The first review makes a comparative assess- ment of two books designed for the aspiring artiddesigner-one pitched at school and the other at college level. Both are helpful and useful. The second review examines a book from America which has many levels of implication for England. It offers respondents who are lecturers in the arts a defined way of reacting to a rather contentious paper and book by a fellow academic whose views of cultural literacy and education would have severe repercussions if adopted. Some may question why American con- cepts of arts education should concern us, but the recent history of art education specifically shows many converging ideas. Hirsch’s definition of a culturally literate society would be achieved by reducing school emphasis on activity skills (creating, performing, etc) and replacing these with the formal learning of established ‘truths’, i.e., an agreed list of great arts objects or experiences and their contexts. It is an idea that might appeal to some recent Secretaries of State for Education.

The activities of the subject of the next review would certainly not be allowed in Hirsch’s concept of cultural education, although Richard Long’s work, as culturally prestigious in gallery terms, might be included as one of the ‘truths’ for the visual arts. Long’s fascination with the formal and the emergent image ‘constructed’ through experiential contact, and his theoretical grappling towards and with new art concepts, shows a more credible picture of the place of practice and its relationship to theory. The approach that Hirsch dislikes is that of the Progressives and John Dewey, with their emphasis on child-centred activity learning. The publication in Canada of a World Directory of collections of children’s art offers a timely contrast. If the role and contribution of art education to total education is reduced by Progressive policies, and many have argued this to be the case from the theories of the New Education, there is now a chance to test out just how far the theories accord with the practice. Some re-reading of the images in

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the collections listed might give a clearer picture of what really took place in the art rooms during the child-centred boom. Finally a second Canadian publication is reviewed which sets out to challenge the way in which ‘a’ history of art education has been allowed to emerge. The introduction to this text suggests a new agenda for art education history , and the methodologies implied. The chapters which follow allow an interesting comparative in- sight into the theories, methods, and results of fact-based and experience-based art education over the last hundred and fifty years.

It was in Volume 10, number 3 that I commented on the scarceness of videos concerned with visual arts education when reviewing a part educational, part promotional example from Berol. Before the comment was published, I received two indepen- dent reviews, both concerned with videos. It would appear that the enterprising companies are getting into production. The Resources Review following the Book Review contains assessments of three videos, one centrally concerned with schools and art learning, and the others showing one artist simultaneously working and com- menting from start to completion of a watercolour painting, and in the second example, a woodcut. I am always pleased to receive ideas concerning reviews of books , journals, catalogues , exhibitions with an art educational emphasis, and relevant videos and com- puter software.

Reviews

JOHN SWIm

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