Page 13 - Studio International - December 1971

the ATTI and NUS feelings, were surprised at attitudes, those of the Design Technician Courses British
the cold reception which the report received are to be limited to learning skills and facts. The
from those bodies. What had in fact happened new Design Technician, in new educationally sculptors '72
by this time was that, as the report neither mutilated form : denied anything so dangerous as
accords with their beliefs nor purposes as to tuition in ideas : removed from the Dip AD
what needs to be done in a just and effective graduate milieu: and probably before long
manner, the report holds no authority for them— re-housed in some out-of-the-way condemned
and neither does the present form of Council primary school elsewhere, may be expected
which produced it. gradually to become unaware of where such as
For those readers who know little of the Joint the Hornsey College of Art Principal's office is
Report, its origins lie in the Guildford and situated—probably even where Hornsey is as
Hornsey affaires of 1968. At Hornsey, the well!
College of Art Principal found himself The joint report was sent to the Secretary of
persona non grata in his own office to which he State for approval in the summer of 1970.
was denied access by a protesting group of his Shortly afterwards she invited the various
own students engaged in a sit-in. One of their professional educational associations and the
major grievances was that in their college two NUS to send her their comments on the report.
types of courses existed side by side : one the Following this she was silent on the matter
Diploma in Art and Design (Dip AD) courses; until 12 July, 1971 when she issued Circular
the other, Vocational Design Courses. Though No. 7/71 which contains her reactions to the
they were patently of the same level of report. In this, she virtually tossed the report
achievement, the former were on 'pool', and the back for further consideration of two of its
latter were not—with all the attendant major parts.
advantages and disadvantages which that entails ! It is possible that the length of time the
The factors which decided on which one of Secretary of State took in appraising the report
these courses a student found himself had little may have been caused by her stupefaction at
to do with his artistic or creative design ability, reading it, for while proposing a new structure
but everything to do with the fact that the for immediate introduction, the report also
Department of Education and Science had contains a section under the heading 'Future
placed a moratorium on the number of places Developments'; and the strange thing about
available on Dip AD courses, and also with the this section is that it virtually contradicts and
possession or not of five G.C.E. '0' level passes makes nonsense of the main report. Or perhaps
in subjects which were not required to have any she was semantically intrigued by the new light
relevance at all to the course. Under the which this part of the report shines on the
circumstances, students on the Vocational Design meaning of the word 'future' : for as the time-lag
Courses could well be understood in finding this since the joint committee first sat to the present
an incredible state of affairs; and in rejecting the is a period of three years, and as one might When the last Battersea Park Sculpture
authority of a system which imposed it on them. hazard a guess that at least another year may Exhibition was held in 1966 the general feeling
At this point the NACAE (the 'Coldstream' elapse before anything concrete happens to the amongst sculptors was that the park setting
Council) decided to 'take cognisance' of the report, one would have thought that it would was no longer particularly relevant to the proper
criticisms. It set up a committee, jointly with the have been wiser, and certainly more realistic, to exposure of their work. The greater proportion
NCDAD, to take evidence, hear criticisms, recommend that the assertions in the section on of the pieces had in fact been intended for
and propose a new structure for art and design future developments be implemented rather than seeing inside galleries, and the trees and flowers
education. When it produced its joint report in those in the main body of the report. Looked at were more a liability than an asset. Therefore
1970 this was found to contain proposals just as in this way the meaning of the word 'future' when it proved impossible to find sufficient
iniquitous as the system which it proposed to appears to refer to a state of affairs which financial support to enable the show to be moved
replace. remains permanently in the future, and is never to a new site the show died and has never been
At least those like, possibly, the Principal of likely to become the present. All this, of course, thought worth reviving.
Hornsey College of Art might be expected to lends support to the conclusion that it is no However, something else died at the same
find some joy in the joint report. For, looked at mere coincidence that the 'Society for Putting time that is very much more important: the
in a certain light, at least the difficulties caused Things on Top of Other Things' of Monty principle that it is worthwhile, and necessary,
by the parity of the two courses—`Dip AD' and Python's Flying Circus coexists at this moment of for the public to see some of the developments
`Vocational Design'—had been in one way time with the new 'Structure of Art and Design taking place in sculpture on a large scale and
resolved. The report proposed that the former, Education'. under the right conditions on a regular basis.
if specialized as vocational courses are, should be In this planner's paradise, we need a new Neither the Tate nor the Hayward, both heavily
lengthened by a year: while the Vocational slogan. Not 'No Taxation Without committed in any case to complex schedules of
Design Courses should be shortened by a year— Representation', but 'No Planning Without international and historically based exhibitions,
thus giving modern meaning to St Matthew Representation'. As it is, the two parties most can do more than slot in the occasional major
Chapter 25 verse 29 : 'For unto every one that hath intimately concerned with art and design retrospective showing of a particular English
shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but education—art and design teachers and artist, such as the recent exhibition of Bridget
from him that hath not shall be taken away even students—are inadequately represented on the Riley's work.
that which he hath'. It was further proposed that planning councils, and are threatened with The Whitechapel Gallery which under Bryan
the title 'Vocational Design Course' should be having a new structure lumped on them which Robertson provided a forum where many
replaced by that of 'Design Technician Course'; they neither respect nor want, and which has British artists were seen properly for the first
the difference between the content of the two nothing to do with either the nature of art or the time seems unlikely to survive the financial
courses in essence to be that, while the Dip AD ideals of education. q problems which afflict it. It occurred to me
courses are to be concerned with ideas and R. H. LITHERLAND therefore when I heard that I had been elected
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