Melati Suci lets kids apply their imaginations

Melati Suci lets kids apply their imaginations

By Lenah Susianty

JAKARTA (JP): "We do not need to teach children how to paint, it is us who have to learn from the purity of children's paintings," the Spanish painter, Picasso, once said.

A. Hari Santosa of the Yogyakarta-based Melati Suci atelier interprets this sentence to mean that one should give freedom to children, let them paint whatever they like.

Unfortunately, such freedom is not usually allowed at schools where children learn drawing. The teachers, who have to follow a strict curriculum, usually force students to follow the set guidelines, expecting that at the end of a semester each student will be able to draw as required. The sad thing is that this leads to the death of imagination.

In both state-owned and private schools, a teacher draws a picture on a blackboard, then students have to copy the drawing precisely, including the colors. In a few schools, children are provided with pictures that they can copy and are allowed to color their own drawings as they please.

One mother once complained that her 4-year-old daughter was required to take an extra class just to learn how draw by her teacher in a kindergarten in East Jakarta.

"It was only because my daughter painted the sea that she had drawn black. The teacher said it was wrong, so my daughter had to take an extra class," she said.

As a result of this approach to art education, the strict guidelines are reflected enormously in Indonesian children's paintings. If a child is asked to draw a landscape, the result is almost always a half-seen sun in between two mountains, with a few coconut trees, moustache-like birds, plots of paddy fields and look-alike houses.

This situation in art education is part of what led Hari to establish Melati Suci in 1979.

"I have noticed that the curriculum used currently in Indonesia does not yet emphasize the importance of art lessons. So, teachers provide their students with so many regulations, and this surely limits the students' imagination," Hari told The Jakarta Post at the Bentara Budaya gallery on Jl. Palmerah Selatan.

Melati Suci, jointly with PT Grasindo, a subsidiary of PT Gramedia publishing company, is currently holding a children's painting exhibition at that gallery.

The exhibition, featuring around 165 paintings, will continue through April 14.

"In fact, we should not limit children's imaginations because I notice that imaginative children are also bright at other lessons," Hari said, pointing out some of the more creative paintings done by children from the Melati Suci atelier.

"Ronny Lesmana, the painter of these paintings is always the best in his classes," Hari added.

Ronny Lesmana, who is now a teenager who draws using the technique of pointillism developed by French impressionist George Seurat, was one of winners of a painting competition organized in conjunction with 1991's Telecommunication Day by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union.

One of his works in this show, Nyi Roro Kidul the Queen of the South Sea, is not only rich in details of life under the sea, but also mirrors Ronny's vast imagination. Another painting, When Eve was created from Adam's rib which is based on the book of Genesis in the Bible, shows Ronny's interest in imaginative things. Ronny, who has been with Melati Suci since he was much younger, put Eve on the top of canvas -- as if she is in the sky -- while Adam is lying on the ground, on the right side of the canvas. Their faces resemble western faces, reflecting unconsciously that the teaching of Christianity here is very influenced by westerners. The pastel colors used by Ronny makes the paintings seem exotic and are one more reminder that Ronny is inspired by Seurat.

"The difference is that Ronny uses color markers, which have narrow tips, which means he has to make more dots than Seurat did with his paint brush," Hari said.

Ronny is just one example of the Melati Suci atelier's application of French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau's saying "let childhood ripen in children".

"When children come to the atelier, usually I give them a theme on which they can base their drawings. The theme could be actual news which is in the headlines, such as the eruption of Merapi mountain, or an imaginative one, such as life under the sea," Hari said.

He added that he has never found a theme too difficult to be translated into drawings by children.

"Don't underestimate them, because they have not only visual experiences, but also emotional and artistic ones. So they can draw anything, whale hunting for example, although they haven't yet seen it for themselves. Just let them explore all possibilities," Hari said.

Talent doesn't play a great role either, Hari said.

"What is important is to condition them in such a situation which will develop their interest for drawing. If they have a big interest and are willing to practice, talent is not important anymore," he said.