Melati Suci lets kids apply their imaginations<\/p>\n
By Lenah Susianty<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): \"We do not need to teach children how to paint,
\nit is us who have to learn from the purity of children's
\npaintings,\" the Spanish painter, Picasso, once said.<\/p>\n
A. Hari Santosa of the Yogyakarta-based Melati Suci atelier
\ninterprets this sentence to mean that one should give freedom to
\nchildren, let them paint whatever they like.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, such freedom is not usually allowed at schools
\nwhere children learn drawing. The teachers, who have to follow a
\nstrict curriculum, usually force students to follow the set
\nguidelines, expecting that at the end of a semester each student
\nwill be able to draw as required. The sad thing is that this
\nleads to the death of imagination.<\/p>\n
In both state-owned and private schools, a teacher draws a
\npicture on a blackboard, then students have to copy the drawing
\nprecisely, including the colors. In a few schools, children are
\nprovided with pictures that they can copy and are allowed to
\ncolor their own drawings as they please.<\/p>\n
One mother once complained that her 4-year-old daughter was
\nrequired to take an extra class just to learn how draw by her
\nteacher in a kindergarten in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"It was only because my daughter painted the sea that she had
\ndrawn black. The teacher said it was wrong, so my daughter had to
\ntake an extra class,\" she said.<\/p>\n
As a result of this approach to art education, the strict
\nguidelines are reflected enormously in Indonesian children's
\npaintings. If a child is asked to draw a landscape, the result is
\nalmost always a half-seen sun in between two mountains, with a
\nfew coconut trees, moustache-like birds, plots of paddy fields
\nand look-alike houses.<\/p>\n
This situation in art education is part of what led Hari to
\nestablish Melati Suci in 1979.<\/p>\n
\"I have noticed that the curriculum used currently in
\nIndonesia does not yet emphasize the importance of art lessons.
\nSo, teachers provide their students with so many regulations, and
\nthis surely limits the students' imagination,\" Hari told The
\nJakarta Post at the Bentara Budaya gallery on Jl. Palmerah
\nSelatan.<\/p>\n
Melati Suci, jointly with PT Grasindo, a subsidiary of PT
\nGramedia publishing company, is currently holding a children's
\npainting exhibition at that gallery.<\/p>\n
The exhibition, featuring around 165 paintings, will continue
\nthrough April 14.<\/p>\n
\"In fact, we should not limit children's imaginations because
\nI notice that imaginative children are also bright at other
\nlessons,\" Hari said, pointing out some of the more creative
\npaintings done by children from the Melati Suci atelier.<\/p>\n
\"Ronny Lesmana, the painter of these paintings is always the
\nbest in his classes,\" Hari added.<\/p>\n
Ronny Lesmana, who is now a teenager who draws using the
\ntechnique of pointillism developed by French impressionist George
\nSeurat, was one of winners of a painting competition organized in
\nconjunction with 1991's Telecommunication Day by the Geneva-based
\nInternational Telecommunications Union.<\/p>\n
One of his works in this show, Nyi Roro Kidul the Queen of the
\nSouth Sea, is not only rich in details of life under the sea, but
\nalso mirrors Ronny's vast imagination. Another painting, When Eve
\nwas created from Adam's rib which is based on the book of Genesis
\nin the Bible, shows Ronny's interest in imaginative things.
\nRonny, who has been with Melati Suci since he was much younger,
\nput Eve on the top of canvas -- as if she is in the sky -- while
\nAdam is lying on the ground, on the right side of the canvas.
\nTheir faces resemble western faces, reflecting unconsciously that
\nthe teaching of Christianity here is very influenced by
\nwesterners. The pastel colors used by Ronny makes the paintings
\nseem exotic and are one more reminder that Ronny is inspired by
\nSeurat.<\/p>\n
\"The difference is that Ronny uses color markers, which have
\nnarrow tips, which means he has to make more dots than Seurat did
\nwith his paint brush,\" Hari said.<\/p>\n
Ronny is just one example of the Melati Suci atelier's
\napplication of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's saying
\n\"let childhood ripen in children\".<\/p>\n
\"When children come to the atelier, usually I give them a
\ntheme on which they can base their drawings. The theme could be
\nactual news which is in the headlines, such as the eruption of
\nMerapi mountain, or an imaginative one, such as life under the
\nsea,\" Hari said.<\/p>\n
He added that he has never found a theme too difficult to be
\ntranslated into drawings by children.<\/p>\n
\"Don't underestimate them, because they have not only visual
\nexperiences, but also emotional and artistic ones. So they can
\ndraw anything, whale hunting for example, although they haven't
\nyet seen it for themselves. Just let them explore all
\npossibilities,\" Hari said.<\/p>\n
Talent doesn't play a great role either, Hari said.<\/p>\n
\"What is important is to condition them in such a situation
\nwhich will develop their interest for drawing. If they have a big
\ninterest and are willing to practice, talent is not important
\nanymore,\" he said.<\/p>",
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