Art has its place in child development

Art has its place in child development

By Rosemarie F. Oei

UBUD, Bali (JP): "Art is a mirror of mind and emotions, a
space for completing the need of matters of inner and outer
world," S. Fitzgerald wrote in 1991's Education and the
Australian Mind.

"In all societies, the arts provide us with important ways of
representing and expressing ideas, values, emotions and religious
beliefs, as well as ways of recognizing, valuing and, at times
challenging traditions."

This quotation was cited at the opening of a recent seminar,
My Place, to discuss children's education in arts and its
developments at Museum Puri Lukisan Ubud.

The seminar was held by the museum in cooperation with the
University of Melbourne. They concurrently presented a workshop
for children, in which children were asked to draw the most
beautiful place in their life. The paintings would be exchanged
with Australian children's works.

The workshop, held in an exhibition building, was attended by
110 children between 5 and 12 years old from different schools in
Ubud and Denpasar.

The seminar was held in the garden to discuss children's arts
and education on a deeper level. The speakers included Australian
Margaret Stephens, who has been researching children's education
in Bali since 1995, Balinese psychiatrist Prof. Ni Luh Ketut
Suryani, Balinese artist I Dewa Nyoman Batuan and Ni Made Rinu,
arts education lecturer at the University of Udayana, Denpasar.

The event drew 63 participants from the education and arts
worlds.

During the seminar it was clear that Australian education
faces the same problems as Indonesian education with the time
constraints, lack of student interest in arts and material
limitation.

Educating children about arts is not always easy, especially
when today's children are used to electronic entertainment, such
as video games and television. This has resulted in a way of
communication which is difficult for teachers to handle.

How can we pass on the values and appreciation for arts to
children?

The solution depends on the skill of the teacher. The arts are
obviously not mathematics. At every level of arts, we are unable
to judge right or wrong.

Margaret suggested that parents and teachers try to invite the
children to use examples from their daily life and experiences
which are interesting enough to talk about.

Exhibit

"Ask the children to draw something they like from their
experiences and environment and give them the freedom to create,"
she added.

Although the children get the freedom to create, Margaret
recommended that adults guide them in the technique and skills
needed to get a good result.

It is also important to exhibit the children's artwork
regularly and to invite other children and their parents. "This
is to create self-confidence in the children and at the same time
to develop other children's creativity," she said.

From a psychiatrist's point of view, Suryani said parenthood
could have a great influence on the child's development of
expression through paintings.

Parenthood in Australia and Indonesia differs. An Australian
parent gives the child more independence, logical understanding
and the chance to express their emotions in an individual way.

On the other hand, Balinese parents are more likely to protect
their children. Balinese children have to suppress their emotions
and through intuition and observation understand others.

Different styles of parenthood apparently result in the
different artwork from the children, according to Suryani.

An important question raised during the seminar was the
influence of the adults' way of painting on the child's
creativity. As we have to guide children in their freedom to
create, how can we avoid these influences?

Ni Made Rinu believes that the environment will influence the
children, but experience shows that children's interest in
painting will develop. They will express their own mind and
feelings about reality in the paintings in a different way from
adults, who have more awareness of the community's values and
care more about the environment.

As an artist, I Dewa Nyoman Batuan finds traditional art to be
a part of his daily life. Art is related to literature and this
results in a personal relationship between an artist and
different elements in his life such as religion, place, time and
situation.

Art is a mirror of people's minds and a medium to express
feelings. It also completes the need of matters of the inner and
outer world. According to I Dewa Nyoman Batuan, art will not have
any meaning if there is no philosophy about art. The new
generation has to have the guts to change without letting the old
prints from the past die and vanish.

The writer is curator of Museum Puri Lukisan Ubud